Howard L. Michaels, chairman of Carlton Advisory Services,announced the partnership Wednesday, July 12. Cardel Hotels will bethe asset and joint venture manager. Driftwood Hospitality willmanage all of the properties acquired or developed by the fund.

Two transactions have already closed. In the first deal, Cardelused $22 million of equity to recapitalize its 123-room Hampton Inn& Suites in Miami and the 250-room Crowne Plaza in Sawgrass.The second transaction was the acquisition of three BradfordHomesuites totaling about 400 rooms in Houston, North DallasAddison and the Denver Tech Center. Michaels says all threeproperties will be totally renovated and repositioned as either aHyatt Summerfield Suites or Staybridge Suites.

Michaels says the joint venture plans to invest $100 million inequity by year's end with the initial two transactions representingabout 30% of that investment. In a prepared statement, Rodriguezsays his company is "aggressively expanding throughout the US andwe anticipated this aggressive growth trend to continue."