Ault Global Real Estate Equities, a subsidiary of Ault Alliance (itself a subsidiary of diversified holding company BitNile Holdings) has acquired three hotels in Middleton, Wis., a suburb of Madison, and one hotel in Rockford, Ill.
The acquisition consists of a 136-room Courtyard by Marriott, a 133-room Hilton Garden Inn and a 122-room Residence Inn by Marriott in Middleton and a 135-room Hilton Garden Inn in Rockford for an aggregate of 526 rooms. The company paid $69 million for the hotels, with $23.9 million paid at closing in cash; the balance of the purchase price was financed through construction loan agreements.
Over the next 18 months, Ault Global Real Estate Equities plans to renovate the Hotels through a $13.7 million property improvement plan. The hotels will be managed by GF Hotels & Resorts.
Ault Alliance formed Ault Global Real Estate Equities earlier in 2021 to invest in commercial real estate, including hospitality and multifamily housing properties, with a concentration in the middle-market segment. This deal is the division’s first commercial real estate investment. Ault Alliance President Christopher Wu is the CEO of the new spinoff, which has partnered with Joshua Caspi of Caspi Development, a real estate developer based in New York with expertise investing in hospitality, office and multifamily experience developments. The company has previously co-invested with Caspi Development in the Hotel Barrière Le Fouquet’s New York.
“We are extremely pleased to acquire this premium-branded and stabilized portfolio of assets in an attractive and growing region of the country, set in a state capital and anchored by a major state university, as our first acquisition through AGREE,” Wu said in a statement. “We believe these assets will provide AGREE and thereby the company with attractive yields and potentially serve as a model for other commercial real estate transactions. We are also excited to partner with Joshua Caspi, a real estate developer and investor who brings considerable expertise, to help us manage and grow our real estate portfolio.”