Dylan Brandt, 32

After graduating from Tulane University in New Orleans, Dylan Brandt was drawn to real estate through an interest in architecture and entrepreneurship, but he found himself on a path toward acquisitions and development instead.

In 2014, he bid au revoir to the Big Easy to work at the Moinian Group and spent two years on their team before going back for a second helping of schooling at the New York University Schack Institute of Real Estate to focus on finance.

Soon, he would meet the mentors who would help him take his journey to the next level: Lawrence Britvan and Michael Straw, heads of CBRE’s Hotels Institutional Group, which has arranged $30 billion in transactions since 2017 — the year Brandt joined the team.

“They totally changed my perspective of not only the nuances within real estate finance but expanded my horizon into how you can participate and add value in this space,” Brandt said. “I didn’t have to only be an acquisitions analyst or work in development to [advance within the industry]. Debt is always the plug in the model that drives the returns.”

One of the larger deals Brandt has worked on recently was helping Highgate and Cerberus Capital Management get $625 million to to refinance a portfolio of 58 La Quinta hotels in May 2023.

Brandt also helped the Carlyle Group and Gotham Organization get a $216 million bridge loan for the acquisition of 200 West 67th Street on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

One of the transactions that sticks with Brandt the most was arranging $450 million in runway capital for Watermark Lodging Trust from Ascendant Capital Partners and Oaktree Capital Management in July 2020, the team’s second deal since the start of COVID just four months prior.