Commercial Real Estate Finance

Posts Tagged ‘Hersha Hospitality Trust’

Last Thursday, I began recounting some of the discussion at a recent CFO Panel here in Philadelphia. Presented by the local branch of the Cornell Real Estate Council, this event featured five CFOs representing major REITs (and one non-REIT) in the Philadelphia area: Hersha Hospitality Trust (HT), CubeSmart (CUBE), Brandywine Realty Trust (BDN), PREIT (PEI), and Morgan Properties. The event was understandably well attended.

As I pointed out last week, the CFOs have distinct but somewhat nerve-wracking vantage points in their companies. They see the direct relationship between corporate decisions, shifting market fundamentals, and the fluctuation of their properties’ and company’s value. They expressed trepidation about political gridlock, property oversupply, and general economic uncertainty. But we covered most of the anxiety-provoking subject matter on Thursday. Today, I want to discuss opportunities.

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Ashish R. Parikh

Chief Financial Officer

Hersha Hospitality Trust

Ashish R. Parikh has been Chief Financial Officer of Hersha Hospitality Trust since 1999. Previously, Mr. Parikh was Assistant Vice President in the Mergers and Acquisition Group for Fleet Financial Group where he developed valuable expertise in numerous forms of capital raising activities including leveraged buyouts, bank syndications and venture financing.

Mr. Parikh has also been employed by Tyco International Ltd and Ernst & Young LLP. Mr. Parikh received his MBA from New York University and a BBA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Mr. Parikh is a licensed Certified Public Accountant.

Q: How did you get your start in the business? Read the rest of this entry »

Week in Review for March 3 – 9:

- Hersha Hospitality Trust (HT) acquires the 111-room, five-diamond Rittenhouse Hotel in Philadelphia for $42 million. The property, which Hersha bought from Rittenhouse Development Corp., also features high-end condominums. Last year, Travel + Leisure ranked the Rittenhouse among the 500 finest hotels in the world, and the number one hotel in Philadelphia.

- In related news, brokers predict a strong year for hotels in Manhattan, with a projected occupancy rate of 81% for 2012 (compared to the nation’s average of 65.9%).

- NAREIT”s chairman says REITs must do more to entice the investment community, though he acknowledges REITs have made great strides in recent years.

- Standard & Poor’s is rejected by major underwriters of CMBS, including Goldman Sachs (GS), Deutsche Bank (DB), and J.P. Morgan Chase (JP). S&P had previously derailed a major CMBS sale by Goldman Sachs and Citigroup (C).

- In Europe, investors target so-called “rentysomethings“–young professionals who can’t afford to buy, but earn too much to qualify for subsidized housing. Read the rest of this entry »

Commercial Real Estate Week In Review For the Week of April 30th to May 6th

- Bernanke Urges Government to Avoid Burdensome Regulations on Banks.

- Hersha Hospitality Buys LA Marriott for $48 Million.

- REITs Resume Top Ranking in Equity Stocks.

- The Federal Reserve Wraps up Bond Buying Program.

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Commercial Real Estate Week In Review for the week of November 6 to November 12

-Canadian REITs are following a similar trajectory to those in the U.S.

-All major commercial real estate categories posted price increases this quarter.

-Lend Lease and NRDC Equity Partners formed a partnership to acquire Centro Properties.

-Bryce Blair, Avalon Bay Communities, was elected as the new NAREIT chair.

-First Potomac has $300 million in pending acquisitions.
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Every time I turn on the news the media has found another “doomsday” story to scare the masses into thinking that the world is going to end. Y2K, Avian Flu, SARS, Swine Flu, terrorist attacks, drug wars, and multiple financial crises have been the most prominent topics of the recently ended decade. While all of these are formidable problems in the world (except maybe Y2K), I think most of us can agree that the media blows these way out of proportion. The next big event is supposedly the winter solstice in 2012, when the Mayan Calendar ends and some speculate the world will end with it.

One theory about the latest doomsday is that many smaller events will culminate in the ultimate end of the world. Perhaps it’ll be a large scale natural disaster paired with the collapse of the financial markets. Any way you choose to imagine it, the New York Times has the solution for you:  no matter your fear, gold is the answer. While they don’t explicitly endorse gold as a good investment, they certainly don’t offer any counter advice. Read the rest of this entry »

Can you trade real estate just like this guy trades securities? Of course, but let’s face it. Investing effectively in actual real estate is tough. A few reasons why are that real estate tends to be illiquid, and is usually rather expensive (at least in comparison to other financial instruments). There are a few ways to maintain exposure to the real estate sector without having to buy physical real estate. One way is to invest in a real estate investment trust (REIT), an example of a publicly traded REIT is Hersha Hospitality Trust (NYSE: HT). REIT’s invest their capital in real estate, and you can invest your money in the REIT by buying stock. By law REITs are required to return at least 90% of their operating profit to shareholders. Because of this the REIT will pay dividends.  Personally, I love investments that pay some sort of interest or dividend because it makes the investment feel more tangible. Another popular benefit is that you can reinvest your dividend. Essentially you were just able to purchase more stock for “free.” I put “free” in quotation marks because nothing in life is ever free, and also because the stock price may have depreciated and your initial investment may have lost money.

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Commercial Real Estate Week in Review-Week of May 16-22

-Our office neighbor Hersha Hospitality Trust is betting on the New York hotel sector, as they increased their exposure by purchasing a 113-room Holiday Inn.

-Welsh Property Trust and Campus Crest Communities are going public. Their IPO’s are projected at $315.2M, and $385.3M, respectively.

-Have commercial real estate prices in Dubai bottomed out?

-Starwood Capital’s bid for Extended Stay hotels “better” than $905M offer from Centerbridge Partners, and Paulson & Co. Auction set for May 27, 2010.

-Yale professor claims “history is unpredictable.” History already happened. This is why I went to Penn.

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Jay H. Shah currently serves as Hersha Hospitality Trust’s (NYSE: HT) Chief Executive Officer and as a member of its Board of Trustees.  Mr. Shah is involved in all areas of the business with a particular emphasis on investor relations, capital transactions and acquisitions. Previously, Mr. Shah served the Company as President and Chief Operating Officer and prior to that he served as the Managing Director of the Hersha Group, a private affiliate of Hersha Hospitality Trust that provides hotel management, development and construction management services to hotel owners.

Prior to joining the Hersha organization, Mr. Shah was principal in the law firm of Shah & Byler, LLP, a real estate and construction specialty practice, which he founded.
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