Dallas Airport Hotels Are Attracting Investment

Investors are targeting hotels near Dallas’ two primary airports.

Irving Mahadev, an entity linked to the Patel family of North Texas hoteliers, filed plans last week to replace the Comfort Inn by DFW International Airport with a new Hilton-brand hotel, according to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

Irving Mahadev is an LLC registered to Mukund Patel, the senior member of the Irving, Texas-based father-and-son Magnolia Hospitality Group. Patel’s son Mehul Patel is also involved in the hospitality business.

The entity plans to spend $19 million to replace the existing hotel at 5000 West John Carpenter Freeway in Irving, the Mid-Cities home of DFW International Airport, with a LivSmart Studios by Hilton, according to the filing. Billed as “aparthotels,” LivSmart Studios are extended-stay rooms with kitchens.

The filing, which is preliminary and subject to change, doesn’t specify how many rooms the hotel will have, and Magnolia Hospitality did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, RLJ Lodging Trust, the Bethesda, Maryland-based hospitality real estate investment trust founded by Black Entertainment Television’s Robert Johnson, sold the Embassy Suites by Hilton at 3880 West Northwest Highway near Dallas Love Field Airport. The buyer is Austin-based private equity firm Scenic Capital Advisors, public records show. Hunter Advisors brokered the deal, according to a press release.

The final sale price is undisclosed, but public records show that SCA received a $30 million loan from American National Insurance Company.

The eight-story, 248-key hotel serves extended-stay guests as well as regular travelers, according to the release.

The Embassy Suites at Love Field is SCA’s seventh acquisition in Texas in the past four years, the release stated.

DFW and Love Field are the only two commercial airports in the Dallas area. In fast-growing Collin County to the north of the Metroplex, the McKinney National Airport recently announced plans to add a commercial passenger terminal, a move that quickly incited development activity nearby.