Hughes will assist in strategic investment sales for the South-Central Region, a key market that saw volume more than double when comparing H1 2021 to H1 2020
JLL Hotels & Hospitality announced yesterday its most senior hire this year by bringing industry veteran, Brian Hughes, onto the Investment Sales and Advisory team in Dallas, Texas and reporting directly to the group’s Global CEO, Gilda Perez-Alvarado.
Hughes will be joining Vice President Parker Sherrill and Analyst Tom Stewart, leading strategy and execution of investment sales and advisory for the South-Central region. Hughes brings 25+ years of real estate industry experience, most recently serving as a Senior Vice President at Ashford Hospitality Trust, focusing on acquisitions and sales.
Hughes graduated from Texas Christian University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in finance and the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University, where he earned his MBA.
Hughes’ hire is another acceleration of JLL Hotels & Hospitality’s momentum for its investment sales and advisory platform, following the recent promotions of Andrew Dickey and John Nugent to Managing Directors, Chris Exler joining the Americas team in Miami from Europe, and expanding the Investment Banking Team with 20-year veteran Mark Fisher. In partnership with JLL’s renowned Capital Markets team, the group has executed 1,741 deals in H1 2021 at a volume of $57.9 billion.
The South-Central region is particularly ripe for growth and opportunity, especially with increasing demand for assets in drive-to leisure markets like the South-Central region, with eyes especially on Texas. When comparing hotels transactions from H1 2020 to H2 2021, volume increased in the South-Central region by 233%, and 219% for Texas particularly at $168.1 million. In addition, the Sunbelt region overall has completed over $910.4 million in hotels transactions from January to August, which is a 13.6% increase when comparing the same timeframe in 2020.
Overall, 2021 has been a strategic year for the company’s growth, further supported through the globalization of the Asset Management team through the promotion of Andrea Grigg to Head of Global Hotel Asset Management and bringing on Erin Green and Mike Wernet.