Raleigh’s Concord Hospitality amid $400M expansion plan – Triangle Business Journal

We don’t hear much about Raleigh’s Concord Hospitality Enterprises because most of its hotel development and management work in the past involved markets outside the Triangle region.

It looks like that is beginning to change.

Few weeks ago, the company led by CEO Mark Laport said the firm has purchased the 109-room Courtyard by Marriott (NYSE: MAR) hotel near Triangle Town Center. Within days, we also learned the firm has been hired to take over management of the Raleigh Crabtree Marriott in Raleigh.

So is the company’s strategy shifting more toward the Carolinas market? It was time for a quick chat with Laport.

Laport said the company will have 93 hotels by the end of the year, and Concord has raised $400 million to fund new projects that include ground-up construction, hotel takeovers, and renovation and management projects.

This time last year, Concord Hospitality had 85 hotels.

“We are excited about our rapid growth but we’re really thrilled that a lot of our growth is here in North Carolina,” Laport said. “We grew this year by 20 percent and we anticipate another double digit growth by this time, next year.”

Concord Hospitality Enterprises employs 4,500 people across the country, and at its headquarters in Raleigh there are 130 employees. Laport said the company’s annual revenue is about $500 million.

Concord Hospitality’s upcoming projects include:
• Charlotte and Charleston, S.C. – taking over the management of Homewood Suites

• Pittsburgh – construction of Hyatt House for $25 million and Homewood Suites for $18 million.

• Knoxville – construction of Courtyard by Marriott for $17 million.

• New York City – construction of Cambria Suites by Times Square for $83 million and another in Chelsea.

• New Jersey – adaptive re-use of an office building, conversion into a Hyatt House hotel for $83 million. Also, construction of a Residence Inn for $28 million.

• Lansing, Michigan – three hotels being taken over for management.

• Miami International Airport – Construction of a Hyatt House for $18 million.

Dawn Kurry – Staff Writer – Triangle Business Journal