FROM VISION TO REALITY
Hotels & Hospitality Practice Group
At Winstead, we don’t just understand real estate law, we understand the unique complexities of developing and operating successful hotels and hospitality ventures. Our dedicated team of attorneys brings the right experience to the table, guiding you through every stage of your project, from vision to reality.
The Winstead Hotels & Hospitality Practice Group provides legal counsel to lenders, investors, developers, owners, and operators of hotels, resorts, convention centers, sports facilities, private clubs, and entertainment venues worldwide.
Deep Industry Expertise
Our attorneys are actively involved in industry associations and stay current on market trends, legal developments, and brand-specific nuances.
Collaborative Approach
We work closely with your team, including developers, architects, lenders, and consultants, to ensure seamless project execution.
Creative
Problem-Solving
We think outside the box to find innovative solutions to complex challenges and maximize your returns.
Results-Oriented Focus
We are driven by your success and committed to delivering value at every step of the journey.
Our Capabilities
Clients across the country have come to rely on and trust Winstead’s team of over 155 dedicated real estate attorneys as their business partners. We help them understand trends and maximize opportunities in today’s complex market. We have worked on hundreds of successful projects across all segments of the industry throughout the United States. Click below to learn about our team’s expertise.
Transactions
Structuring, negotiating, and closing acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures, and financings for a wide range of hospitality properties, including convention center hotels, luxury hotels, boutique inns, resorts, mixed-use projects, and more.
Development, Acquisition & Disposition
Guiding you through every phase of the property life cycle, from site selection and due diligence in development planning, construction, and regulatory
compliance.
Complex Business Operations
Advising on franchise agreements, management and operation agreements, licensing agreements, data privacy, intellectual property, and labor and employment issues to ensure your business operates smoothly and compliantly.
Mixed-Use Properties
Navigating the intricate legal landscape of developing and managing mixed-use projects with hospitality components, addressing zoning, construction, and brand integration challenges.
Franchisor & Franchisee Relationships
Representing both franchisors and franchisees in negotiating, structuring, and enforcing franchise agreements, ensuring a mutually beneficial and successful partnership.
Public Finance & P3
Accessing public funding opportunities, including tax credits, grants, payment-in-lieu-of-tax agreements, and P3 structures to optimize your project’s financial viability. Serve as bond counsel and counsel to underwriter developers, issuers, and operators with respect to taxable and tax-exempt financing structures.
Project Finance
Securing debt and equity financing from traditional and alternative lenders, tailoring financing solutions to fit your specific needs and project goals.
Zoning & Land Use
Identifying and understanding relevant zoning regulations, and obtaining necessary permits and approvals to ensure project compliance with applicable laws, while avoiding impediments to development.
Other Resources
Leveraging the firm’s full breadth of experience, including construction, corporate, eminent domain/condemnation, environmental, labor & employment, leasing & asset management, litigation & risk management, restructuring & insolvency, tax, and water law to streamline projects and optimize results.
Our Experience
The project types listed below offer a glimpse into our hotel and hospitality portfolio. For a curated selection of projects tailored to your needs, please contact one of our real estate shareholders.
Awarded Best Real Estate Deal
Omni-PGA Frisco Resort Awarded the Best Real Estate Deal by the Dallas Business Journal
The development, which is worth more than half a billion dollars, consists of a 500-room Omni resort hotel and a 127,000 square foot conference center. Additionally, it includes two championship golf courses (one of which is a short course), practice areas that add up to 45 holes and a Clubhouse, a technologically advanced retail village, and various parks and open spaces with several miles of recreational trails.
Hotels & Hospitality Leadership Team
Andy Dow
214.745.5387 I adow@winstead.com
Andy Dow uses his deep understanding of today’s real estate market to help developers, investors, and lenders successfully navigate their most complex and sophisticated transactions from deal inception to completion. Andy’s experience and desire to listen to his clients and understand their priorities help him anticipate their needs and offer the practical advice and solutions they have come to rely on and trust.
David Dawson
512.370.2847 I ddawson@winstead.com
David has over 25 years of experience serving as bond counsel and general counsel for the hotel and hospitality industry. He has worked on various projects, covering financing with structured tax-exempt and taxable bonds. David has also advised on public financing for hotels, hotel operating agreements, room block commitments, and other management contracts. He has also negotiated economic development agreements between municipalities and project owners. Additionally, David has secured hotel occupancy, sales and use, and mixed beverage tax breaks for qualified convention center hotels.
Mike Alessio
214.745.5144 I malessio@winstead.com
Mike Alessio’s multistate practice involves a wide variety of commercial real estate transactions, with a focus on the representation of institutional equity investors and developers in multifamily, industrial, office, hotel/resort, mixed-use and portfolio transactions. He assists clients across the country from the earliest stages of transactions, using his extensive knowledge and experience to provide a hybrid of business and legal solutions.
Bob Burton
512.370.2869 I rburton@winstead.com
Bob’s practice focuses on real estate, with an emphasis on the planning, development, risk management, administration and marketing of single-family, townhome, condominium, commercial, and mixed-use projects, as well as timeshares and resorts. Bob also works with developers and builders to ensure compliance with the secondary mortgage market (FHA, VA, FNMA, etc.) and Interstate Land Sales registration requirements. Bob also represents condominium, residential, commercial, and mixed-use property owner associations.
