Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) Honors CB Richard Ellis Hotels Executive Ron Danko, Jr.
Presented with national Jack A. Shaffer Financial Advisor of the Year Award
New York, NY – February 5, 2010 – CB Richard Ellis announced today that Ron Danko, Jr., executive vice president, CBRE Hotels, has been awarded the prestigious Jack A. Shaffer Financial Advisor of the Year Award for 2009, one of the most prestigious honors in the hotel investment community.
Mr. Danko, who works out of the midtown Manhattan offices of CBRE, was honored at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS), held in San Diego. ALIS is the world's largest hotel investment conference. Mr. Danko earned top honors for creative deal-making in the hospitality industry, garnering the top transaction and the top advisor designations. In collaboration with Bradley Burwell, senior associate, CBRE Hotels, he took the award for Single Asset Transaction of the Year for arranging the $44.25 million sale of the iconic Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans, LA, on behalf of the seller, Orient-Express Hotels. The 322-room, full-service, luxury hotel was acquired by a partnership of The Berger Company, Inc. and Crow Holdings.
In addition, CBRE came away from the awards ceremony with a "hat trick," having also acted as advisor to Brooksville Development, one of the winners of the Development Deal of the Year, a $550 million transaction for the Hilton Orlando and Waldorf-Astoria Orlando. CBRE Hotels professionals Lewis C. Miller, senior vice president, and Jonathan Rice, senior vice president, both in Atlanta, acted as advisors to Brooksville in securing the capital stack for the project, along with Robert McEwan, first vice president, of CBRE's Orlando office.
"We are immensely proud of Ron for winning the Financial Advisor of the Year Award," said Kevin E. Mallory, senior managing director, CBRE Hotels. "Ron's professional trajectory has been exciting to watch, and along with other talented professionals like Lewis Miller and Jonathan Rice, he makes CBRE's Hotels platform without peer nationwide."
"Whether in Manhattan or anywhere across the United States, Ron Danko is recognized by clients and the hotels industry as a unique talent and most trusted advisor," said Mitchell E. Rudin, president and CEO, New York Tri-State Region, CBRE. "We congratulate Ron on receiving these honors."
Mr. Danko is one of the most senior members of the CBRE Hotels team. He focuses on representing key clients in the sale of medium to large select-service, limited-service and extended-stay single asset and portfolio sales throughout the United States. Since 2003, Mr. Danko has been involved in 116 transactions of greater than $1.1 billion. Major institutional clients include Highgate Holdings, Ashford Hospitality Trust, Innkeepers USA Trust, FFC Hospitality, Hardin Capital, Blackstone Group and Archon/GoldmanSachs & Co.
Prior to becoming a member of the CBRE Hotels team, Mr. Danko was affiliated with Hotel Partners, whose New York office he opened in 1992. Prior to Hotel Partners, Mr. Danko gained experience in hospitality advisory services as a senior consultant at Pannell Kerr Forster, in Washington, DC, and at Arthur Andersen in Princeton, New Jersey.