Like many hotel developers. Concord Hospitality is chasing the booming demand for new U.S. select-service hotels. But President and CEO Mark LaPort says the Raleigh, North Carolina-based company is doing it with caution, concerned some secondary markets risk being overbuilt. "We're worried about markets that had reemerged but are now seeing rapid development," LaPort says. Cleveland, for example, has nine new hotels in the pipeline. "We were going to develop a property there, but pulled the plug," LaPort says. Yet LaPort admits to being "guilty" of playing in the crowded Manhattan market, with two properties under construction and another in nearby Jersey City, New Jersey, across the river from Freedom Tower. "Our biggest one under construction now is over US$190 million, not what select-service people typically think about," he says. "One is US$80 million-plus, and we've actually signed a contract to manage another select-service hotel in Manhattan."
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