Peachtree Group Expands Executive Team with New Elevations

Jared Schlosser, Michael Harper, Michael Ritz

ATLANTA (April 3, 2024) – Peachtree Group ("Peachtree") announced the elevation of three senior executives, expanding their roles to strengthen the firm’s executive leadership team. The promotions include Michael Harper to president of hotel lending, Jared Schlosser to executive vice president of hotel lending and head of CPACE and Michael Ritz to executive vice president of investments.

"These appointments underscore Peachtree's commitment to its core growth initiatives in hotel lending, as well as fostering talent from within our own ranks, with an eye toward further diversifying its allocation strategies as it taps into new investment opportunities," said Greg Friedman, Peachtree's CEO and managing principal.

Since joining Peachtree in 2014, Harper has distinguished himself through a succession of leadership roles, directing the company's credit business, particularly in loan originations and strategic acquisition of credit portfolios. Since joining, he has led the team through over 500 investments totaling over $6 billion. As president, he is responsible for the entirety of Peachtree's credit platform for hotels, guiding all facets of the credit business.

Schlosser's promotion to executive vice president of hotel lending and head of CPACE reflects his exceptional performance and extensive knowledge of the hotel loan origination processes and the firm's Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (CPACE) program. His significant contributions since joining the firm in 2019 have been crucial in advancing Peachtree's CPACE program, which now exceeds $800 million in transactions and has become one of the largest in the U.S. Furthermore, since taking over hotel originations at the start of 2022, Peachtree has completed more than $1.5 billion in hotel loans, further demonstrating his expertise and effectiveness in these dual roles.

Ritz has been elevated to the position of executive vice president of investments and will oversee Peachtree's credit and equity investments across commercial real estate and other ventures.  He joined Peachtree in 2017, and his promotion recognizes his expertise in successfully managing and growing a portfolio of investments that is now approaching $10 billion in transaction asset value.

 

Peachtree was recently ranked as the tenth largest U.S. commercial real estate hotel lender, its third consecutive year in the top ten, by the Mortgage Bankers Association ("MBA") 2023 loan origination rankings.

About Peachtree Group
Peachtree Group is a vertically integrated investment management firm specializing in identifying and capitalizing on opportunities in dislocated markets, anchored by commercial real estate. Today, we manage billions in capital across acquisitions, development, and lending, augmented by services designed to protect, support and grow our investments. For more information, visit www.peachtreegroup.com.

Contact:

Charles Talbert

678-823-7683

ctalbert@peachtreegroup.com

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Peachtree Group Timeline

Peachtree Group was founded in 2007 by Greg Friedman and Mitul Patel as Peachtree Hotel Group, a family office that invested in premium-branded select service hotels. Fast forward and this diversified investment firm specializes in acquisitions, development and lending for a variety of real estate asset classes as well as other ventures.
2007 – Peachtree Hotel Group is Founded

Greg Friedman and Mitul Patel form Peachtree Hotel Group as a family office to invest in premium-branded select service hotels.

2008 – Peachtree Grows Beyond Investing

Peachtree launched complementary divisions to develop and operate hotels, Peachtree Hospitality Development and Peachtree Hospitality Management, respectively. Over the next decade, the company continues to rapidly grow its portfolio of limited- and select-service hotels, becoming one of the nation's fastest-growing hotel acquisition, management, development and ownership groups in premium-branded hotels under the Marriott, Starwood, Hilton, Hyatt, and InterContinental Hotel group flags.

2009 – Executive Team Expands and Great Financial Crisis Hits

Jatin Desai joins Peachtree as managing principal chief investment officer and chief financial officer. The company expands investment offerings beyond equity investing into credit investments, acquiring debt positions secured by hotel and other real estate assets. As the Great Financial Crisis took hold, Peachtree implemented a distressed investment strategy and invested in 47 distressed hotels.

2012 - Stonehill Launches as Peachtree's Commercial Real Estate Lender Affiliate

Peachtree launched Stonehill, a direct commercial real estate lending division, to focus on debt originations and note acquisitions. Stonehill focuses on transitional assets and sectors of the credit market that traditionally have had more limited access to financing, eventually becoming a top 10 U.S. commercial real estate hotel lender as ranked by the Mortgage Bankers Association ("MBA").

2014 – Peachtree Reorganizes and Launches First Credit Investment Vehicle

Peachtree Group reorganized from a family office to a vertically integrated private equity firm. The company launched its first investment vehicle focused on acquiring and originating debt investments in select-service hotels.

2016 – Peachtree Raises its First Equity Investment Vehicle

Peachtree launched its first discretionary equity investment vehicle to acquire and develop premium-branded hotels and other commercial real estate assets.


2018 – Peachtree Expands into Land Development

Peachtree launches Revive Land Group, a land development division focused on designing, entitling and developing residential and mixed-use projects. Revive has since transacted on over $50MM of real estate, consisting of over 1,100 residential lots.

2019 – Peachtree Further Expands Product Portfolio with Launches in CPACE

Stonehill PACE was established as a direct lender focusing on property assessed clean energy for diverse commercial real estate asset classes. Over time, it evolved into one of the prominent CPACE providers in the U.S., securing over $600 million in CPACE financing. Also, Peachtree initiated a mortgage Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) specializing in financing income-generating real estate. This REIT's scope involved acquiring or originating mortgages and mortgage-backed securities. The company further expanded its endeavours by investing into hotel development within Qualified Opportunity Zones. This strategic move aimed to leverage the tax deferral benefits offered by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

2019 – Peachtree Adds Broker-Dealer

Peachtree PC Investors (PPCI), a FINRA-registered broker-dealer, becomes Peachtree's exclusive managing broker-dealer for the firms' investment offerings.

2020 – Distressed Opportunity as Pandemic Hits

The onset of the pandemic triggered an unexpected "Black Swan" event, plunging the U.S. into a recession and significantly impacting various sectors, notably the commercial real estate industry, particularly in hospitality. In response, Peachtree initiated its most extensive investment initiative to date, focusing on real estate and related assets. This strategic move aimed to capitalize on the emerging opportunities resulting from market disruptions, operational inefficiencies, under-capitalizations, and expected cyclical rebounds. Throughout this period, the firm executed transactions totaling $3 billion in asset value, encompassing debt and equity investments. Notably, Peachtree acquired over 180 first mortgage notes as part of its investment activities, positioning itself within a diverse array of real estate assets.

2021 – Capital Market Disruption Allows for Follow On Investment Vehicle

Continued disruptions caused by the pandemic have led to financial strain among ownership groups and developers due to reduced access to capital. In response, the company introduces its twelfth sponsored investment vehicle, aiming to engage in opportunistic debt and equity investments. This strategic move capitalized on emerging investment opportunities within the hospitality industry and other real estate sectors that have been impacted, too.

2022 – Peachtree Expands into Film Production Financing

Gala Media Capital was launched to finance the production of films and television

2022 - Peachtree Expands Commercial Real Estate Strategy and Changes Name

Daniel Siegel joins Stonehill as Principal CRE, bringing a team of experienced originators outside the hospitality industry to expand Peachtree's commercial lending business. In addition, Peachtree expands its array of high-quality, diversified investment strategies and vehicles by launching a 1031 Exchange DST program to enhance its tax deferral strategies in the hospitality sector. Due to Peachtree’s expansion into non-hospitality investments across the ecosystem, the company drops “Hotel” from the name and becomes Peachtree Group, continuing to grow beyond hospitality.

2023 – Peachtree Group Enters Year as a Leading CRE Investment Manager surpassing

$9B+ Asset Value and $2.5B+ Capital Under Management

As the portfolio of commercial real estate investments expanded, Peachtree consolidated all affiliated companies, notably Stonehill, Stonehill PACE, and Peachtree Hospitality Management, under the Peachtree Group umbrella. The firm adds to its vertically integrated management platform with the addition of an EB-5 program to access low-cost capital, diversify its funding sources and invest in job-creating projects across the U.S. Doubling in size since 2020, Peachtree Group has achieved renowned success through investments based on its ability to deploy capital opportunistically through business cycles, taking advantage of its holistic view of the market.

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