Acquisitions & Hotel Openings

Liberty Group of Companies Acquires Two Hotels in Tampa, FL

February 22, 2012 - Liberty Group of Companies is pleased to announce that it recently acquired two limited-service hotel assets in Tampa, Florida, as part of its strategy to invest in opportunistic real estate properties that are undervalued and present attractive investment returns. Since 2010, Liberty Group of Companies has acquired and invested in 16 hotels throughout the United States.

Liberty acquired the non-performing senior mortgage secured by the Comfort Suites hotel in Clearwater from C-III Asset Management, LLC as special servicer for Morgan Stanley Mortgage Capital, and entered into a stipulated foreclosure agreement with the Borrower. Built in 2004, the waterfront hotel features open water views of Clearwater Harbor from virtually each room, and was last purchased in 2005 for $4.5m.

Liberty also acquired the fee-simple interest to the Comfort Inn hotel in Plant City from CWCapital Asset Management, LLC as special servicer to U.S. Bank. Built in 2002, the hotel hotel is located directly off I-4 between Tampa and Orlando, and was last purchased in 2006 for $5.6m.

The hotels will be managed by Liberty Hospitality Management, an affiliated award-winning hotel management company based in Tampa Bay, Florida. Both assets will be repositioned through extensive capital improvements, integration of a professional management team, and potential re-branding opportunities.

"Our proven approach to our investments demonstrates our confidence in the hospitality sector and specifically in our core markets. Each of our investments presents a value-add strategy where we focus on asset repositioning to create long-term capital value for our financial stakeholders," says Punit R. Shah, President & Chief Operating Officer of the Liberty Group of Companies.

Liberty continues to seek opportunistic hotel properties and third-party management engagements throughout the United States and welcomes inquiries from lenders, special servicers, investors, and brokers for assets meeting investment criteria found here.

About the Liberty Group of Companies
The Tampa-based Liberty Group of Companies, founded in 1980 by hotelier Raxit N. Shah and now led by his son Punit R. Shah, has been actively pursuing hotel acquisitions throughout Florida and has invested in over $250 Million in diverse real estate investments throughout the United States over its 35-year history, particularly in the hospitality and senior-living sectors.

For more information on the Liberty Group of Companies or its investment platforms, please contact us at 727-866-7999 or visit our website at www.LibertyG.com.

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