Richard Warnick knows it’s a tenuous time for most in the hotel industry, but the president and founder of Phoenix-based Warnick + Co. is sitting in an enviable position. As one of the most experienced hotel asset management firms in the country, Warnick expects to double its asset management portfolio in the next three years, largely through the addition of distressed properties, as properties are reclaimed by lenders or taken over by new investors or servicers.

Richard Warnick

Warnick’s firm also offers consulting, investment banking, development and renovation management. It’s asset management portfolio features 23 properties including the lender-owned InterContinental Montelucia Resort & Spa in Paradise Valley, AZ. The 293-room luxury resort opened two years ago at a cost of approximately $330 million. It features four restaurants, a spa, 27,000 square feet of meeting space and 34 residential villas.

German lender Eurohypo AG foreclosed on former owner and developer Crown Realty & Development Inc. last year and bought the property at a trustee’s sale auction on Jan. 20 for a bid of $122 million. InterContinental Hotels Group still manages the property, but Warnick won’t say if that will continue.

Warnick + Co. also is overseeing the sale of the 10 unsold villas and working with Eurohypo and broker Eastdil Secured on the sale of the development. We recently spoke with Warnick about the Phoenix luxury market and the role of the asset manager in distressed situations.

Go to National Real Estate Investor for the complete story.