It wasn’t easy for Norman Jenkins, a prime mover and shaker in African-American hospitality, to leave the security of Marriott to form Capstone Development, his own lodging development firm. But it was part of the plan.

“It’s something I’ve been planning to do for some time, and after a lot of pretty significant finance experience, franchise experience, hotel development experience and operating experience, it was the right time,” says Jenkins, a long-time hospitality player with a reputation as a tough negotiator.

On Jan. 1, Jenkins left his job as senior vice president of North American lodging development for Marriott, where he’d worked for 16 years. Capstone focuses on acquiring and developing hotels in the mid-Atlantic area. Select-service hotels, “category killers with high barriers to entry, market leaders” are his focus, he says, “and I’m not scared off by those that involve municipalities because for years I have worked with municipalities on complex projects.” Among such deals Jenkins has been involved in: a Marriott Marquis near the convention center in Washington, DC.

“Working with Marriott, we had a lot of success with local government and getting public-private deals,” Jenkins says. “I think that’s a huge opportunity. On the acquisition front, while nobody’s happy with the downturn or credit crunch, it’s going to force some more rational asset pricing. I don’t think there are going to be fire sales…(but) prices will float to more normal, traditional asset pricing.”

Jenkins wouldn’t detail deals he’s working on, but says there are about five development projects under Capstone consideration and another four in the pre-development stage. Because Capstone is “still ironing out some details with city/government officials,” he wouldn’t be more specific.

In addition, he’s “waiting patiently” for acquisition opportunities, which he believes will materialize late this year or early next. Meanwhile, national lenders remain inactive, making “the debt situation as difficult as I’ve ever seen,” but Capstone has strong relationships with local lenders “willing to make loans.”

The money for Capstone is coming from private equity and other investors, Jenkins says.

Capstone will focus its development efforts on the Washington area, its base. “I want to focus on the development side in regions that I’m used to,” he says. “On the acquisition side, we’re not going to manage assets, so I can easily buy a hotel in Los Angeles and hire someone to manage it.” Or in any other of the Top 25 markets.

“There are a number of quality, well-heeled owners I’ve worked with who have expressed interest in working with Capstone development on future projects.”

That shouldn’t be difficult considering Jenkins’s track record. Not only is he a fixture at the annual National Association of Black Hotel Owners, Operators & Developers (NABHOOD) conference, he spearheaded Marriott’s drive to enlist African-Americans as hotel developers. In 2005, Marriott set a goal to have 500 minority-owned or –franchised properties by 2010 and to spend $1 billion with minority suppliers by then. It has largely hit those marks, in large part thanks to Jenkins. Jenkins also has worked with Robert L. Johnson, the former Black Entertainment Television chief whose RLJ Development has become a force in African-American lodging. In 2006, RLJ acquired 90 Marriott hotels.

Jenkins’s work ethic prompted J.W. “Bill” Marriott Jr., the company’s chairman and CEO, to tell the Washington Post that Marriott looks forward to working with Jenkins on future development agreements.

“I grew up on the finance side, with a CPA and MBA in finance,” says Jenkins, who graduated from Howard University and earned his master’s at George Washington University. “If I were to continue to work for a company, I’d continue to work with Marriott. But I’ve always had a burning desire to do something that was entrepreneurial, to launch something on my own and build something special. That’s what Capstone will be.”

At Marriott, Ray Bennett was selected to follow Jenkins as leader of the firm’s Diversity Ownership Initiative. He was promoted to senior vice president and continues to lead select-service and extended-stay development in the East, from Maine to South Carolina.