Walker & Dunlop has made the strategic move into hospitality investment sales with the addition of Jonathan Morrow as senior managing director. Morrow will lead Walker & Dunlop’s hospitality practice and be responsible for the origination and execution of hospitality investment sales and capital placement across the United States. He will be based in New York.
“Multifamily has been the cornerstone of Walker & Dunlop's growth and competitive market position," Chairman and CEO Willy Walker said in a statement. "But just like in our financing business, once we built a defendable market position in multifamily investment sales, we planned to move into other asset classes. Jay Morrow's deep knowledge of the hospitality industry, transaction track record, and leadership capabilities make him the perfect person to lead this expansion for our company.
"The hospitality investment sales market has shown resilience post pandemic as annual volume for 2020 was $12.8 billion compared to $49 billion in 2022. Major urban markets are experiencing strong hospitality operating fundamentals driven by business and leisure travel, which has pushed average daily rates in certain metros above their pre-pandemic averages.
"Institutional investors in commercial real estate invest across numerous asset classes, and adding Jay and the team he will build to focus on the hospitality industry is another product and service that Walker & Dunlop will bring to our clients," said Kris Mikkelsen, executive vice president and head of investment sales at Walker & Dunlop. “Jay's industry experience and leadership are exactly what we need to launch this platform, and I'm extremely pleased to have him join us."
Morrow specializes in institutional-grade hotel and resort property transactions throughout North America, including investment, brand advisory and capital placement with domestic and international buyers. Prior to joining Walker & Dunlop, Morrow spent over 15 years at Hodges Ward Elliott, leading the firm’s New York City hotel team and completing in excess of $20 billion in lodging transactions.
Walker & Dunlop has a breadth of capital markets experience within the hospitality sector across equity, debt capital, valuations, loan servicing and investment banking. Representative deals include:
- Aman New York Hotel & Residences: $754 million
- SOHO Beach House Miami: $140 million
- The Moxy and AC hotel Los Angeles: $325 million
- The Lexington Hotel New York: $155 million