Buck, Yotel Form JV for $650M Hotel Development

CHICAGO-The trendy Yotel chain, based in London, and locally based John Buck Co. have formed a partnership to raise $250 million for new hotels in North America during the next three-to-five years. The seed money will allow the acquisition and development of more than $650 million worth of Yotel hotels, the partnership said in a statement Thursday.

Yotel was created by Simon Wodroffe and Gerard Greene, and includes two hotels in London, two in Amsterdam and a recently developed hotel in New York City, at 10^th Avenue and West 42^nd Street. The motif is modern with a touch of Japanese, with 669 rooms, most with convertible beds and monsoon showers. John Buck, principal of the self-named firm, said in the statement that the concept allows developers to mas about 30% more keys on a site compared to other hotels.