LIVINGSTON, NJ—Growth is on the agenda for The Briad Group as the hospitality company continues to add to its portfolio composed of Marriotts and Hiltons. There are numerous projects under development including the following:
- 111-room TownePlace Suites by Marriott in Branchburg, NJ (Q4 2018)
- 113-room Homewood Suites by Hilton in Poughkeepsie, NY (Q4 2018)
- 107-room Hilton Garden Inn in Lawrenceville, NJ (Q4 2018)
- 150-room AC Hotel by Marriott in Bridgewater, NJ (Q3 2019)
“With a long track record in hotel development, ownership and management, we believe we have a competitive edge in the hotel real estate niche market, primarily in the tri-state area. We will keep our focus on premium-branded hotels under such flags as Marriott and Hilton,” said Brad Honigfeld, founder, chairman and co-CEO of The Briad Group. “We’ll continue to find great development opportunities in underserved markets. Having our own construction affiliate, we are able to build cost effectively and make difficult projects financially feasible.”
You might say Marriott International served a springboard into hospitality for Honigfeld, having worked for the brand during his formative years. He left to start The Briad Group and, at the time, became a Roy Rogers restaurant franchisee, and then built his first Courtyard in 1998. Honigfeld became a Hilton franchisee in 2002. Today, The Briad Group’s portfolio is a mix of hotels and restaurants. The company has developed, operated or managed 31 hotels and has four others under construction and numerous others in the pipeline.
The Briad Group recently opened the following:
- 102-suite TownePlace Suites by Marriott in Dover, NJ (March 2017)
- 116-suite TownePlace Suites by Marriott in Cranbury, NJ (June 2017)
- 125-room Courtyard by Marriott in Long Island, NY – Islip/Courthouse Complex (January 2018)
Speaking on the company’s achievements, Honigfeld sees opportunities ahead. “I have built and sold 24 properties. The Marriott and Hilton hotels are great products and through the acquisition of Starwood, now Marriott is the largest in the world. I’m proud to be associated with their 30 brands,” he said. “There is enormous opportunity to build various Marriott brands, whether it’s an Element or AC by Marriott. I see a huge runway. My 28-year-old son is in the business on the construction side and I’ve told him he can have 50 years of development. I started this company with $50,000 and we don’t acquire hotels, we just build them from the ground up and have our construction affiliate.”
To keep their growth plans strong, Honigfeld noted that the company seeks to build four to five new hotels a year. The properties are mostly Courtyard by Marriott, Residence Inn, Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites. However, the company just broke ground on an AC by Marriott slated to open in April 2019 in Bridgewater, NJ.
“That is going to be a 150-room hotel with a rooftop bar and outside patio area, which many of the new AC hotels are offering. We have designed a product like that in Bridgewater. We picked that site because it’s surround by hundreds of thousands of sq. ft. of office space and pharmaceutical companies. We’ll have three hotels in operation in that geographic area,” he said.
The Briad Group also will build a 5,800-sq.-ft. Zinburger Wine & Burger Bar, an upscale gourmet burger and wine concept, as part of the AC by Marriott project currently underway.
“What’s unique about The Briad Group is that we have the ability to operate hotels and the restaurants that would be adjacent to the hotels. We’re able to take more land, make the economics better and we have the affiliate construction business. The ability to do restaurants and hotel brands gives us an edge over the competition,” he said. “The hotel business is strong.”
