C. Frederick Wehba expands BentleyForbes to include Hotel and Resort properties

Commercial investment firm hopes to enter new market

C. Frederick Wehba and BentleyForbes Enter the World of Resort and Hotel Properties

For BentleyForbes and its co-founder C. Frederick Wehba, the last few years have been very kind. The commercial real estate investment firm has experience d rapid growth and built up an impressive portfolio of prominent real estate acquisitions. In an effort to increase their market power, BentleyForbes entered the world of high-end resort and hotel properties. This move has important implications for the rest of the real estate market.

As a national commercial real estate investment firm, BentleyForbes has found plenty of success acquiring Class A office buildings and top tier retail areas, but for Chairman C. Frederick Wehba, there is always room for improvement.

To facilitate the company’s move into a new, extremely competitive area of real estate investment, BentleyForbes has created the BentleyForbes Hospitality Group, LLC., and a new hospitality specific company wing.

Despite their success in retail and office property investment, each new piece of commercial real estate requires unique specialists, which has prompted the creation of new BentleyForbes affiliates. C. Frederick Wehba understands the necessity of keeping the BentleyForbes name synonymous with quality investments, so he leads the company into this new investment sector with the plenty of experienced professionals on his side.

New members of the BentleyForbes team, specifically picked for the hospitality market, include James M. Kasim, who serves as the company’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Kasim will work to streamline the capital market programs of BentleyForbes Hospitality branch and upgrade the new hospitality sector’s investment strategies.

C. Frederick Wehba has also decided to enlist the skills of Chris Pfohl, who previously worked as vice president of the Western Region of Intercontinental Hotel Group, where he led company development. The Intercontinental Hotel Group owned and operated major hotel properties, giving Pfohl experience that the new BentleyForbes teams will desperately need. At BentleyForbes, Pfohl will act as the senior operation officer and lead new teams through large hotel investments

The hospitality domain expansion is a bold decision for C. Frederick Wehba and BentleyForbes, but with the company’s recent success and strong business initiative, the forecast appears positive.

This article in the Hotel News Resource outlines the company’s move into the hotel and resort market, while detailing new company sectors being built around it.

BentleyForbes Enters Luxury Resort and Hotel Investment Market - Forms BentleyForbes Hospitality Group LLC

BentleyForbes, a national commercial real estate investment and operations company, is expanding its investment focus to include resort and hotel assets with the formation of an independent operating affiliate, BentleyForbes Hospitality Group, LLC. In tandem with the launch of the hospitality sector operation, Mr. Chris Pfohl joins the newly formed BentleyForbes Hospitality as executive vice president to oversee its investment program and operations under the oversight of the BentleyForbes executive committee.

"During the past two years, the company has undergone a substantial period of growth," said C. Frederick Wehba II, vice chairman and co-founder of privately held BentleyForbes. "Diversifying our portfolio through the acquisition of luxury resort and hotel properties is the next step in the continued growth of the BentleyForbes brand. Knowing that there are many unique aspects to this specialized asset class, the executive committee chose to form a wholly owned affiliate company to enter the hospitality sector and staff it accordingly with marketplace experts well versed in the nuances of the resort and hotel asset classes."

Mr. Chris Pfohl, a 27-year hospitality industry veteran, joins BentleyForbes Hospitality as executive vice president and will be the company's most senior operations executive. In this capacity, he will report directly to the executive committee of BentleyForbes. Most recently, Mr. Pfohl served as vice president of development for the Western Region of Intercontinental Hotel Group, an international owner and operator of hotel properties.

BentleyForbes Hospitality will employ its own team of analysts and sector specialists as well as having access to the extensive operating strengths of BentleyForbes, including its capital markets experts, legal counsel, significant cash reserves and established relationships in the capital markets and real estate brokerage community.

To streamline this operating interaction, BentleyForbes will also tap the hospitality sector experience and investment knowledge of its Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer James M. Kasim. In this capacity, Mr. Kasim will oversee the fiduciary and capital markets programs of BentleyForbes Hospitality and integrate the subsidiary unit into the BentleyForbes operating platform. He will continue to hold the position of Chief Financial Officer of BentleyForbes, with responsibility for the company's overall financial and accounting operations.

"Mr. Kasim developed a deep understanding of both real estate and hospitality sector investment strategies during his tenure with Ernst & Young, prior to joining BentleyForbes," said David W. Cobb, president and CEO of BentleyForbes and a member of its executive committee. "We expect that he will apply his knowledge in guiding the company's new interest in acquiring hotel and resort assets and building an internal expertise in owning and managing these assets. Moving forward, we also expect Mr. Kasim to take a lead role in the formation of a programmatic fund wherein BentleyForbes Hospitality will partner with institutional and private equity investors with a like-minded interest in acquiring and owning top-quality hospitality sector assets. Until that time, BentleyForbes Hospitality will begin immediately pursuing acquisitions as a singular entity."

Prior to joining BentleyForbes, Mr. Kasim most recently held the position of senior manager with the Los Angeles offices of Ernst & Young. During his 10-year tenure with the internationally recognized financial services company, he predominantly served the needs of clients in the real estate and hospitality sectors. He gathered extensive knowledge of financial strategy, capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, investment strategies, due diligence, public offerings, SEC regulations and generally accepted accounting principals.

"I am looking forward to further diversifying the acquisition criteria of BentleyForbes to include hospitality properties as a target asset class," said Kasim. "There has been a significant stabilization of this sector since 2001, and now we are seeing the upward curve of improving market fundamentals in the hospitality sector. This has created a confidence at BentleyForbes to form BentleyForbes Hospitality and begin acquiring resort and hotel assets for a medium- to long-term hold. We will be pursuing signature, trophy, top-of-class properties and 'diamonds in the rough' that are located in the major MSAs and resort destination communities across the nation. These assets will range in value from $40 million to more than $200 million. If the appropriate opportunities present themselves, BentleyForbes Hospitality will consider acquiring properties in markets around the globe."

BentleyForbes, the parent company, is staffed by a team of senior executives and industry professionals with expertise in commercial real estate acquisitions, finance, investment banking, asset management, real estate law and due diligence. Since June of 2004, BentleyForbes has modified its operating structure to include the strategic oversight of an executive committee, which will provide the same oversight to BentleyForbes Hospitality moving forward. This committee is led by the Wehba family, founders of BentleyForbes, and includes the following senior members: C. Frederick Wehba, Sr., chairman; C. Frederick Wehba II, vice chairman; Chad Wehba, partner; Christian Wehba, partner; James M. Kasim, executive vice president and chief financial officer; and David W. Cobb, president & CEO. This committee works directly to develop strategies and investment programs, implemented by each company's senior executives under the oversight of Mr. Cobb, who is directly responsible for both companies and their day-to-day operations and investment transactions on behalf of the executive committee.

During 2005, BentleyForbes successfully completed the purchase of Class A office properties in diverse markets, including: four multi-tenant buildings totaling 721,351 square feet of Class A office space in the Preston Center submarket of Dallas, TX; a single tenant, three-story, 250,000-square-foot, Class A suburban office building housing mission critical operations in Arlington, TX; the historic 11-story, 261,000-square-foot Watergate Office Building and Retail Arcade at 2600 Virginia Ave., N.W., in Washington, D.C.; and Park Center, a five-story, 236,000-square-foot Class A office property located in the North Dallas submarket of Plano, TX.

-Hotel News Resource