Dive Brief:
- Real estate investment and development firm West77 Partners, the development engine behind extended stay hotel brand LivAway Suites, is opening a new office in the greater Phoenix market, which has “great potential for growth and success” according to President Dan Barrett.
- The Arizona office will serve as a development hub for West77 Partners, which has existing offices in Bellevue, Washington, and Salt Lake City. The move comes as the firm expands its pipeline of LivAway Suites hotels in the area.
- The expansion into Phoenix “solidifies West77’s commitment to developing best-in-class extended-stay properties throughout the United States,” Barrett said in a statement. West77 is plotting a rapid nationwide expansion of the LivAway Suites brand, with hotels currently underway in Maine and Utah.
Dive Insight:
West77 has a growing pipeline of LivAway Suites hotels in the Phoenix area. Wasatch DC Builders, an affiliated general contracting company of West77, is the contractor for the upcoming projects, three of which are scheduled to break ground later this year, according to the company.
West77 Chief Development Officer Paul Duncan told Hotel Dive in April that Phoenix is an increasingly desirable market for extended stay development because of ongoing infrastructure projects in the area. These projects, including Taiwanese Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s $40 billion plant, drive demand for longer-stay accommodations from construction workers, according to Duncan.
West77’s Phoenix office will not just bolster its extended stay development in the area, though; it will also be a resource to support the company’s nationwide expansion of LivAway Suites.
Currently, the development firm is underway on LivAway Suites hotels in Scarborough, Maine, and Draper, Utah. The brand’s pipeline includes another 50 properties set to break ground by the end of 2026, including up to 12 within the greater Phoenix area alone, according to West77.
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts’ Echo Suites extended stay brand is also expanding to Arizona, a developer with properties under contract in the state told Hotel Dive in July. Chatham Lodging Trust, meanwhile, acquired a Home2 Suites extended stay hotel in Phoenix in June.
Phoenix has proven to be a desirable market for developers and investors given its strong tourism fundamentals, local hospitality pros told Hotel Dive. In the second quarter of this year, Phoenix had one of the largest hotel construction pipelines in the U.S., per Lodging Econometrics.
