Dev Motwani serves as Managing Partner of Merrimac Ventures, a Fort Lauderdale-based real estate firm focusing on value-added investment and development opportunities. Property types owned and operated include hotels, condos, retail, office, and rental apartments primarily in South Florida but also throughout the United States.

On this episode, Jake and Dev discuss:

• Growing up in the family hotel business
• How to build successful partnerships
• Creating long-term investment structures

Links:

Dev on LinkedIn

Merrimac Ventures

Six Senses Douro Valley

Connect & Invest with Jake:

Follow Jake on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jwurzak

Take the Hospitality Investing Masterclass: https://learn.jakewurzak.com/

Learn How to Invest with DoveHill: https://bit.ly/3yg8Pwo

Topics:

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:02:00) - Dev’s upbringing and career in real estate and hospitality

(00:12:46) - Mentorship

(00:16:42) - Meeting Donald Trump

(00:19:10) - Acquiring a full city block of real estate

(00:21:24) - What asset classes were you working on outside of hotels early on in your career?

(00:24:19) - How did you raise capital on your first deal?

(00:28:15) - Key characteristics of land sites that make it work

(00:32:34) - Working with LPs

(00:37:01) - How are you structuring deals?

(00:39:35) - How are you unlocking liquidity as you begin working with family offices and high-net-worth individuals?

(00:41:39) - What are some of the mistakes you’ve made buying land?

(00:48:23) - How are you considering investing in other parts of FL?

(00:51:01) - Going into the Telluride market

(00:58:52) - Condo economics

(01:07:35) -Thoughts on shadow STRs

(01:10:28) - How to deal with challenging partnerships

(01:12:53) - What’s your favorite hotel?