Avison Young leverages its footprint in the hospitality sector with the recent purchase of Atlanta-based hotel real estate brokerage company Hotel Assets Group, LLC (Hotel AG).

Hotel AG is rebranded as Avison Young. This acquisition will provide a platform to launch a new hospitality group that will operate nation-wide in the U.S., and expands Avison Young’s service offerings in Atlanta and other U.S. markets to include brokerage, capital markets and structured finance services for select-service and full-service hotel real estate in all 50 states, focusing on single-asset and large-portfolio sales.

“As a result, our strategic framework will now cover five core service offerings as hospitality complements our existing office, industrial, retail, and multi-family property sectors while serving two key client segments – investors and occupiers,” said Avison Young CEO Mark Rose. “Moreover, the new hospitality group will ensure that this new core service fits seamlessly with all of our other business lines.”

Twenty-five new members, including 20 brokers, join the company. Keith Thompson, Brad Sinclair, Michael Bernath (Atlanta), Andrew Broad (New York), Chris Stark (Portland, Oregon) and Eric Gunderson (Los Angeles) become principals of Avison Young. Working with Avison Young’s senior leadership group, the team will co-ordinate the strategic direction of the hospitality group and manage its day-to-day operations while advising new and existing clients.

Founded by Keith Thompson and Brad Sinclair in 2007, Hotel AG has 182 hotels on the market totaling $3 billion in market value with $600 million worth of properties under sale agreement.

“With one of the largest hotel real estate markets in the U.S., Atlanta is the ideal base for our new hospitality group,” notes Steve Dils, Avison Young principal and managing director of the firm’s Atlanta office. “We’re thrilled that Keith has brought his team to Avison Young at a time when multiple transactional opportunities involving hotel assets are emerging.”