Officials of Avistone, a rapidly growing commercial real estate investment firm specializing in the acquisition and operation of multi-tenant, industrial properties nationwide, today announced that they have named industry expert Charlie Muller Managing Director of Lodging, to focus on the acquisition and management of hotels nationwide.
“With the travel industry facing continued headwinds, a number of owners are opting to divest their properties and portfolios versus riding out the troubled forecast,” said Richard Kent, president, Avistone.
“This creates opportunity for investment firms such as our own. While we historically have focused more on industrial properties and business parks, our core expertise remains real estate investment, including identifying opportunity, capitalizing investments, repositioning properties, improving cash flow and enhancing value at disposition. With Charlie helming this operation, we feel strongly that we are entering the market at the right time with the right person to help us achieve our aggressive growth objectives.”
Muller brings with him nearly four decades of hospitality expertise in operations, acquisitions, development, asset management and dispositions. He has completed more than $7.5 billion in transactions, including acquiring 75-plus hotels, developing/redeveloping 19 hotels and has overseen asset management practices for over 200 hotels and recreational properties. Prior to joining Avistone, Muller held such positions as senior vice president of investments with First Hospitality, vice president of development at Omni Hotels & Resorts and executive vice-president and chief operating officer for CNL Hotels & Resorts and CNL Lifestyle Properties. A member of the Urban Land Institute, Muller received his Bachelor of Science in Hotel Administration from Cornell University.
“Working with a well-established real estate investment management firm like Avistone as they expand into the hotel industry provides me with an opportunity to utilize my full skillset, which inspires me professionally,” Muller said. “Creating and utilizing private equity funds, we will seek investments in limited-service, extended-stay, full-service and resort hotels throughout the United States. We are targeting property acquisitions and/or note purchases, as well as limited new development opportunities where they make sense. Avistone will focus on hotels at below-market-replacement cost that will benefit from capital infusion, renovation, rebranding, repositioning and/or improved management and marketing capabilities.
“Avistone will make immediate use of its existing and extensive list of hotel brokers, auction firms, owners and lenders to target investment opportunities,” Muller added. “Once acquired, we plan to improve property revenues through effective asset management practices and alignment with proven operators as we move to stabilize RevPAR, increase cash flow and eventually sell opportunistically as conditions warrant.”
About Avistone
Avistone is a real estate private equity and investment management firm involved in the acquisition and operation of industrial and business park properties nationwide. Since its founding in 2013, Avistone has acquired 24 industrial business parks totaling nearly four million square feet of space located in California, Georgia, Texas, Florida and Ohio.