CBRE Hospitality Co-Head Mark Owens Joins Colliers
By Celia Young February 8, 2023 3:01 pm
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The co-head of CBRE (CBRE)’s hospitality team, Mark Owens, decamped the brokerage to lead Colliers (CIGI)’ national hospitality division, Commercial Observer has learned.
Owens started his newly created post as Colliers’ practice leader and vice chair of its hospitality team on Wednesday. He said he will focus on advising institutional investors looking to acquire, sell or finance hotel assets nationally, especially properties in need of financing as high interest rates chill the debt markets.
“People that may have been able to call their relationship lenders, their lenders may just not be there right now, so that’s a tremendous opportunity for us,” Owens said. “I’ve looked at a lot of what we do as a puzzle, and it’s finding the right pieces that fit with our clients.”
Owens joined CBRE in 2015 and built out the firm’s hotel debt and structured finance platform, completing over $4.5 billion in transactions annually, according to Colliers.
Just last year, Owens helped arrange $350 million in debt to refinance a portfolio of properties Strategic Hotels & Resorts owns; a $72.25 million loan for private equity firm Safanad and The LCP Group’s purchase of the Postcard Inn in St. Pete Beach, Fla.; and another $105 million in debt to refinance the Bellwether and Beachcomber resorts, also in St. Pete Beach.
Prior to joining CBRE, Owens led Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group’s hospitality practice and served as a vice president at real estate financial services firm Sonnenblick-Goldman, before Cushman & Wakefield acquired it in 2007.
“Mark Owens is one of the best and brightest professionals in the hospitality industry,” David Amsterdam, president of Colliers’ capital markets group, said in a statement. “He brings to our capital markets team deep institutional expertise across transaction types within the hospitality sector, and we’re thrilled to welcome Mark.”
A spokesperson for CBRE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Celia Young can be reached at cyoung@commercialobserver.com.
