Green Tree hotel to be converted into apartments

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Developers seem to be tripping over themselves to build hotels or apartments in Pittsburgh these days. Now a hotel is getting into the act — by joining the apartment crowd.

The Quality Suites Hotel in Green Tree is being converted into apartments under its new owner, Austin, Texas-based JoCo Partners.

JoCo purchased the nine-acre, 152-suite hotel on Mansfield Avenue from P I Hospitality earlier this month, according to Mit Patel, president of P I Hospitality. He would not disclose the price.

Mr. Patel said JoCo plans to convert the hotel into Terrain Apartments. The 152-unit complex will feature studios and two-bedroom, two-bath apartments with full kitchens, fireplaces, stainless steel appliances and granite countertops. There also will be a fitness center and community room.

With the sale, the Quality Suites no longer is operating as a hotel, and JoCo is now offering short-term apartment rentals, Mr. Patel said.

P I Hospitality decided to sell the property, which it purchased in 2005 for $2.9 million, to take advantage of a strong market and to raise capital to pursue other projects in the region, including Downtown.

Mr. Patel said the hotel, with its suites and amenities like fireplaces and full kitchens, was tailor made for a conversion to apartments.

“It just lends itself to an apartment complex,” he said. “We felt it would be a good repositioning opportunity for someone more versed in that space.”

JoCo, he said, plans to renovate all of the units and add the new stainless steel appliances and granite. Jason Cohen, a JoCo partner, could not be reached for comment.

P I Hospitality renovated the property and rebranded it as a Quality Suites when it took over ownership in 2005. Before that, the complex had been a Residence Inn and a Hawthorne Suites.

Rather than infuse more capital into the hotel at this point, the company decided it made more sense to sell, packaging the property as a repositioning opportunity. The company didn’t feel as if it had the expertise to undertake that kind of conversion itself, Mr. Patel said.

“We’re not apartment guys; we’re hospitality,” he said.

JoCo also owns a condominium complex in Bethel Park and a 47-unit apartment building in Squirrel Hill. It owns two apartment buildings in San Antonio, Texas.

Although P I Hospitality gave up the Quality Suites, it still owns the Crowne Plaza Pittsburgh West Hotel in Green Tree. It also is exploring a possible hotel deal in North Carolina.

The company also is interested in doing a project Downtown, possibly converting an office building into a hotel. It has developed luxury housing in India.

Mark Belko: mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.

 

Article can be found at:

http://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2015/12/23/Green-Tree-hotel-to-be-converted-into-apartments/stories/201512230078

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