[ 00:00:12 ]Welcome to Behind the Bottom Line Podcast. I’m Adam Hayes, and to my left is my co-host, Bob Payton. Good day. And across the table from us today is Nathan Nichols with StoryCo. Howdy, howdy. Yeah, welcome to the show.

 

[ 00:00:27 ] Thank you for having me. Happy to be here. Thanks for coming. So what is StoryCo?

 

[ 00:00:32 ] StoryCo is an Indianapolis-based hospitality firm. We invest, we develop, and we asset manage resort real estate, predominantly in the Midwest. We focus on assets that can provide a unique experience to guests, typically trying to get them out of their day-to-day routines and focused on the outdoors or kind of immersed in the natural environment.

 

[ 00:00:57 ] That’s pretty cool. Give us an example of a property like that.

 

[ 00:01:00 ] Yeah, so Pine Mountain Resort in Iron Mountain, Michigan, I think is a really good example. That was actually our first acquisition. It’s 360 acres in the Upper Peninsula, Michigan. It’s a 35-run downhill ski mountain. It’s an 18-hole championship golf course. It’s better. Yeah, that’s right. Especially for a golf professional over here.

 

[ 00:01:21 ] There’s plenty of room to lose golf balls up there.

 

[ 00:01:24 ] You know what? It’s a fun course. We’ve got to get you up there. It’s top 10 rated in the state, and it’s pretty beautiful.

 

[ 00:01:36 ] Six miles of downhill mountain biking, 55 rooms. We’re adding 34 more keys to it. Sort of the mecca for those who want to ATV, hike, golf, fish.

 

[ 00:01:47 ] Are there ATV rental options?

 

[ 00:01:48 ] Yes, there are, of course. If there’s an amenity that gets people outside or one that’s sort of adventure-driven, we’re there for it. We just signed a lease with an axe thrower by way of example.

 

[ 00:02:01 ] Oh, really? Yeah. Oh, that’s cool. We’re excited. So the idea of skiing, golf, and ATV is kind of a 12-month gig, right? So you could go up there, you know, anytime during the year and have fun and experience the outdoors.

 

[ 00:02:15 ] That’s right. You’re hitting the nail on the head. Oftentimes, our role when we’re acquiring a property from someone who is probably more mom and pop owner/ operator, you know, our mission is to smooth out seasonality. Right. Bridging all four seasons with different activities that get folks outside and drive demand, that’s high on our list. But it’s coupled with things like layering in group business or an airline contract, outings, things just like that.

 

[ 00:02:45 ] So tell us the story of how you ended up doing this. You’re looking like a fairly young guy here. Oh, man. Unless you’re like 50 and just by magic, right?

 

[ 00:02:54 ] I was 65. Oh, fantastic.

 

[ 00:02:56 ] No, I am young. I’m 33, and I started my career as a busser. Okay. And, you know, I always mention that every room needs a layperson to be in it, and I serve that purpose. I am rarely the smartest person in the room. That’s continued. in this room today um but i grew through the ranks of hospitality really quickly i i was in the gm chair probably long before i was ready okay um if that owner is listening he’d probably agree we’ll call him out later that’s right that’s right um but i I focused mostly on independent hotels and resorts that had struggled to perform fiscally. Worked with a host of different management companies and ended up being moved really all around the country. From San Diego to Los Angeles to Palm Springs. I spent time in Nashville and Seattle before moving to Chicago and Tampa and now Indianapolis. But I was asked to join the principal side of the business with a mid-sized real estate investment trust called Watermark Lodging Trust, at the time Cary Watermark.

 

[ 00:04:05 ] And for them, I was responsible for their assets at risk of going back to the lender, challenged assets. And I grew with them to oversee about a third of their portfolio or a billion five of their real estate spread across the US. And that’s where I met my business partner. Jump into that. He’s the complete other end of the spectrum from a… how our brains work and personality.

 

[ 00:04:30 ] He started in the world of banking and launched the hotel lending platform for BMO out in San Francisco with a colleague at Wells Fargo before he joined Watermark to work on their transaction side. And so he did $4 billion of hotel financings and refinancings. He did 11 dispositions. He’s a wildly smarter guy than I. In fact, you all should have him on here at some point. But he and I worked opposite of one another. An asset would come into my portfolio. We’d work to improve NOI, net operating income.

 

[ 00:05:04 ] He’d take it out for a refinance or for a sale. That would recuperate value for investors and sponsors. And we’d rinse and repeat. And we found, you know, he and I became really good friends. We started investing together passively.

 

[ 00:05:20 ] you know we we we started to think gosh we should we should raise some capital around uh around this we’re yielding real return um we went out to our first limited partner investor uh with what we had been doing passively which was we were investing in some single-family multi-family assets and they said you’ve got this all wrong what the heck are you guys doing Your entire life has been dedicated to hospitality. You’ve got 30 years between you.

 

[ 00:05:48 ] Why are we doing multifamily? Yeah, what are you doing?

 

[ 00:05:51 ] And the light bulb went off. We recovered $265 million for investors and sponsors in the space of hospitality. We can do that for our own investor group. And shortly after, StoryCo was born in 2022.

 

[ 00:06:10 ] Post-COVID, okay. Now we’re talking, yeah.

 

[ 00:06:12 ] That’s right. And we focus specifically where those larger groups like the REITs, like the life insurance companies, where they’re not.

 

[ 00:06:21 ] There’s the adage that there’s riches in the niches, and ours is the Midwest. Ours is in these densely complex resorts that focus on getting people outside.

 

[ 00:06:32 ] And then we’re focused on what our total capitalization is.

 

[ 00:06:37 ] And we find we’re fishing in small ponds, or we’re the bigger fish in that pond. whatever adage you prefer.

 

[ 00:06:46 ] And so started in 2022, bought our first two hotels in 23, on track to acquire four this year and continue with that style of trajectory.

 

[ 00:06:54 ] I love the niche. I mean, we talk about niches a lot together, obviously. I mean, just hearing that story and looking you up online and those kind of things, I was like, this is going to be interesting, right? Not a lot of people I know and you know that are in the niche you’re in, right? I mean, it’s fantastic.

 

[ 00:07:12 ] I mean, well enough, just the business aspect of it. And, you know, we’ll dig into a little bit of what that looks like for an owner on the other side. Right. But I love the fact that you define this as where we’re playing. That’s just fantastic.

 

[ 00:07:24 ] So I’m going to ask you some questions that you may not want to answer. And if that if that’s the case, just tell us. But when you go in to invest into a property, does the owner typically stay on and stay the owner operator or is that? You know, does that vary?

 

[ 00:07:38 ] Yeah, that’s a great question. It varies by asset. Predominantly, we are going to acquire the asset, and it’ll be a clean break from the previous ownership group. Um, certainly, management changes. Uh, in select circumstances, we have uh, owners that will stay on in like a preferred equity or in a limited partner equity position. Sure. Um, but that’s really on a deal by deal basis. Um, but with full disclosure, we make a big change when we first acquire an asset. You know, these are assets that, and I’ll give you an example. We talked about Pine Mountain. The general manager was the diesel mechanic, and that was his primary role. They had only ever advertised via radio. And there are, this is going to shock you, there are alternative ways to market motel and resort product besides that.

 

[ 00:08:33 ] And, you know, they didn’t have internet. uh because it was fourteen thousand dollars to dig the fiber line and that was untenable and so oftentimes we make immediate change that’s significant when we because you have the capital to do it partially because we have the capital and partially because we’ve had the pleasure of seeing 48 hotels and resorts in in our background in a lot of different markets that operate a bit differently sure and some of that can be jarring for especially family-run owner-operators that are used to a very structured way of doing things.

 

[ 00:09:09 ] Their way.

 

[ 00:09:09 ] That’s right. And so we find that the owners who choose to stay on as investors later are those that can see that they’re ready for a change and that maybe they’re not the right ones to execute it. They’d like to stand and yield the gains, but they don’t want to drive the ship anymore or drive the boat anymore.

 

[ 00:09:32 ] Tired and exhausted. That’s right. Felt relief when you came in and said, ‘You know what? You guys can help me get to the vision that I imagined. I want to double down and turn this buyout into shares and equity and whatever you’re doing.

 

[ 00:09:43 ] Nail in the head. Right.

 

[ 00:09:44 ] Nice.’ So what are the common things that you see or the common themes that you see when you go to a property and you say, you know what, this looks like something that would fit? us what we’ve done in the past and then kind of do you have a specific playbook that you say here’s the five or ten things that we’re going to do and get this thing rocking and rolling yeah so so we do our general strike zone or or pillars for it to be a good fit for story co today we do look for it to be locationally in the midwest okay and don’t get me wrong we’ve looked at assets outside of there exceptions get made but but core focus for us really is is midwest driven We wanted to have a real focus on outdoor recreation.

 

[ 00:10:24 ] You know, we’re closing on a project in Ely, Minnesota next month. And that’s right on the boundary waters with Canada. Huge fishing, snowmobiling, dog sledding. Surprisingly, Ely, Minnesota is the focal area for dog sledding in the United States. There are more dog sledders there than anywhere else.

 

[ 00:10:46 ] So they train for the Iditarod there? That’s right. Really.

 

[ 00:10:49 ] Um, another niche, another niche, right? Yeah, so we, you know, that’s a perfect fit for us, where we’re right on the water. Um, closing on a couple of projects in Michigan that sort of mirror that in nature, but it’s got to have outdoor complexity. Full service, it’s got some food and beverage, maybe some meeting space. These are, and typically priced between 15 and 50 million total capitalization. That’s that’s a good initial buy. Box. But from there, there’s really a lot of work to see if it’s a fit for us. We yield return for our investors by buying it right. We are typically cap rate buyers, meaning a multiple of the in-place NOI. And we couple that with— we’ll go through with a preferred management partner— and we’ll identify where there’s operational opportunity. And some of that has to exist for it to be a fit for us.

 

[ 00:11:45 ] Sure. If there’s no upside.

 

[ 00:11:47 ] Yeah, if it’s a stable asset that’s a cash flow buy for somebody, that’s great. It just isn’t us. We’re the buyers of assets that need improvement. We’re the buyers of assets that have some level of distress where we can… I like to say there’s all types of fun and creative things that you can do to generate demand and to capture it. And we don’t underwrite any of those. We only underwrite what’s broken and what… is the yield if we fix those things that are broken. All those fun and creative things after that, that should be the gravy for the investors and for ourselves.

 

[ 00:12:25 ] So for it to be in our buy box, it’s got to be in the right location. It’s got to be capitalized correctly. There’s got to be some level of distress and it’s got to be bought correctly.

 

[ 00:12:35 ] Right. And then do you do some kind of analysis in advance? Like what kind of demand can we generate for this?

 

[ 00:12:41 ] Yeah, in the world of hospitality, there’s a lot of reporting that’s available. Where we struggle is the more remote the location, the less reporting available because the fewer reporting parties. So, you know, Smith Travel Report, STR, is one of the leading forms of reporting in the hospitality world. It gives occupancy, average daily rate, and revenue per available room for most of the hotels in the United States. Folks report in, and then you get randomized.

 

[ 00:13:10 ] Or not randomized, anonymized, pardon me, information about a grouping of hotels in your market. You can use CBRE, who puts out a great Hotel Horizons report for a greater market. That’s more commonplace if you’re buying in Indianapolis or if you’re buying in Detroit and you want to know about your sub-market.

 

[ 00:13:30 ] Right.

 

[ 00:13:30 ] And then the last is, I mean, we’ll make site visits to a number of different… competitive assets in the market. We’ll shop them.

 

[ 00:13:38 ] Yeah, a secret shopper type. That’s exactly right. Well, that seems fun.

 

[ 00:13:42 ] It’s the toughest part of the job.

 

[ 00:13:45 ] Total business right on. That’s right.

 

[ 00:13:48 ] Gosh, you’ve got to go out and see the great text. I will tell you, when you go to a market and you’re touring the upper upscale properties and market, that’s a ton of fun. The downside? The downside is you’re also touring the motels and market.

 

[ 00:14:03 ] With a half-broken ski-doo and a boat that’s sinking.

 

[ 00:14:07 ] And sometimes that’s what we’re acquiring, right? With the intent to fix and improve.

 

[ 00:14:12 ] What do you see as the commonalities in general to those type of owners? I mean, are they quote-unquote pre-retirees typically, or are they not? I mean, who’s kind of in that space that typically is that identified, you know?

 

[ 00:14:27 ] owner of that type of property we have a lot of sellers that are second generation okay uh or at the period of transitioning uh to the next generation oftentimes uh grandpa’s vision isn’t the same as dad’s correct and or grandma’s vision isn’t the same as mom’s and especially when it starts to transition into multiple siblings sometimes that can create conflict very much um and When you’re facing an asset that really needs a renovation, sometimes investing capital into something you’re not passionate about looks less attractive than a check.

 

[ 00:15:06 ] When all the siblings are looking at each other in a room going, hey, are you ready to put up about $2 million? That’s right.

 

[ 00:15:12 ] There is some level of distress in the greater market in the world of hospitality. I think that’s not true.

 

[ 00:15:21 ] Dissimilar to what we see in the world of multifamily or really in any asset class, when you see, call it a liquidity crunch from a capital perspective, or when you see it, especially from the lending community, you have some folks that are in a real jam who signed a five-year loan and now that term is over. Right.

 

[ 00:15:41 ] Before the loan’s over, or before everything else is, yeah. Yeah.

 

[ 00:15:45 ] They’re not ready for refinance. And guess what? It’s not in market. And they’re probably not going to just pay down their loan. And so we find a little bit of distress in that form where we can step in and, you know, look, we put together great deals for our investors, but we always try to create win-win-win scenarios. We want that seller to walk away happy. And so we try to find a solution that helps them to get out sometimes out from under, a million dollars a year of debt service payments that they don’t have a solution for.

 

[ 00:16:25 ] They’re treading water.

 

[ 00:16:26 ] That’s right. We find the last is the folks that are tourists in the space.

 

[ 00:16:33 ] Just like in the world of restaurants, there are folks that say, wouldn’t it be fun too? And the answer is, it’s a lot of work. No, it’s not.

 

[ 00:16:44 ] Wouldn’t it be a lot of work too? Yeah, you’re right. You can buy yourself a job.

 

[ 00:16:48 ] That’s right. And especially in hospitality, as technology continues to evolve and market share continues to become something that you really compete for, if you’re not a discipline-specific expert, you can put yourself into a world of hurt very quickly. And so sometimes we can step into rescue positions to help folks who have found themselves in water above their death.

 

[ 00:17:17 ] Yeah. So how do you guys go about finding these deals? Do you have target properties that you reach out to? Or do you, are you, you know, you have a trust advisor network of bankers that are seeing these things happen in this space? Or how does the deal flow start? Coming to you.

 

[ 00:17:33 ] Yeah, nail on the head.

 

[ 00:17:36 ] That, in addition to, we come on podcasts and talk about distressed opportunities. At the end, we leave an email address.

 

[ 00:17:43 ] Absolutely. And your website.

 

[ 00:17:48 ] You’re right.

 

[ 00:17:49 ] It’s the lending community who can flag us when they start to identify a problem.

 

[ 00:17:56 ] It’s a lot of franchisors. Who have assets that are starting to default or who see assets that are independent that they might think they’re the right fit for in a soft brand. It’s management companies that want the opportunity to put in place some of their key leaders.

 

[ 00:18:15 ] And then, generally speaking, there’s a bit of a splash in a local sub-community when you make an investment. everybody knows what’s going on right i mean that’s exactly right yeah and there are things like the daily lodging that goes out that sort of reports on uh who’s buying what and so some of it comes just organically as well as referrals from some of those other sources sure candidly some of our investors have been uh because they visit resorts right i mean or their friends own them or have been referral sources for us right we found a new thing to you know maybe you know, do on our spare time.

 

[ 00:18:55 ] Yeah. Plenty of spare time to do that.

 

[ 00:18:58 ] Well, let’s talk about you. Yeah. You know, let’s tell us about your journey. Did you grow up in Indiana? Where’d you grow up? Where’d you go to school? That kind of stuff.

 

[ 00:19:08 ] So I was born and raised in San Diego.

 

[ 00:19:10 ] Okay. And the weather sucks there. That’s right.

 

[ 00:19:13 ] I moved here for the weather. Like today. Actually, and we’ll talk about that, but I, you know, I, Born and raised in San Diego. I was really fortunate. I had a great childhood.

 

[ 00:19:25 ] Mom and dad, if you’re listening, thank you.

 

[ 00:19:28 ] Great childhood.

 

[ 00:19:29 ] Well done.

 

[ 00:19:31 ] But it was get outside and play every single day. It was tree houses and tire swings, dirt bikes. All the dangerous stuff. That’s right. Every weekend, we’d go out hiking.

 

[ 00:19:50 ] My entire day was outside. Today, my wife has a rule that I can bring the laptop to bed, but I can’t bring the charger. And when the laptop dies, it’s time for sleep. That’s a good rule, by the way. I like that. It feels very fair. But you look at that psychotomy. So how good’s your battery?

 

[ 00:20:11 ] I have a new computer now.

 

[ 00:20:14 ] Fully charged by 10 p. m.

 

[ 00:20:16 ] That’s right. On the charger, right up until bedtime.

 

[ 00:20:20 ] But, you know, I look at the dichotomy between, you know, who I was as a kid and even a young adult and who I, my peers, my friends are, and we’re also glued to our devices. Of course. Part of the reason we’re doing what we’re doing is, you know, our mission critical for us is to deliver value for our investors, to provide a great environment for our employee populations to work within.

 

[ 00:20:49 ] But mission critical for our guests is get them outside and get them to play. Right.

 

[ 00:20:54 ] Put the laptop down, the phone away.

 

[ 00:20:56 ] That’s right. So that’s a little bit about the why. You asked about the me. So I grew up in San Diego, moved sort of all over through work. I didn’t go to school.

 

[ 00:21:11 ] I had my education through the wild world of hospitality.

 

[ 00:21:15 ] That’s cool.

 

[ 00:21:16 ] It’s why I’m always the lay person in the room.

 

[ 00:21:22 ] And don’t ask me history questions. Ask me financial performance for specific assets and for hospitality.

 

[ 00:21:29 ] There’s a lesson to be learned in that, by the way, somewhere, by the way.

 

[ 00:21:32 ] I appreciate that. But I met my wife, Brandy, in Nashville. seven years ago better get that right that’s yeah hope so don’t be mad um and and brandy was a nurse i was a general manager at the time at a hotel in that market um we moved to chicago together uh got married i was four years ago now congrats thank you very much i’m incredibly fortunate She’s the unsung hero of StoryCo. She’s not a paid employee, but she is with me on half the darn trips that I go on. She ends up being the driver, and I sit in the right seat with a lap desk working.

 

[ 00:22:17 ] She’s the support engine.

 

[ 00:22:19 ] Oh, my gosh, yeah. She’s absolutely incredible.

 

[ 00:22:23 ] We have two spouses that are both nurses, by the way, so we’re with you. We can relate. There we go.

 

[ 00:22:28 ] She’s a PRM. She’s working with IU.

 

[ 00:22:33 ] She enjoys the ability to work when she’s not needed at StoryCo and be available when we need her help and support, especially, you know, we founded in 2022. So, yeah, it’s we’re a couple of years old today.

 

[ 00:22:46 ] Awesome. That’s awesome. So it was San Diego. And then where? Yeah.

 

[ 00:22:51 ] Los Angeles. OK. Los Angeles, Palm Springs. OK. Then Palm Springs to Nashville. While I was in Nashville, I did a little bit of support for Seattle in the task force capacity.

 

[ 00:23:03 ] Then Nashville to Chicago, Chicago to Tampa.

 

[ 00:23:08 ] Okay.

 

[ 00:23:08 ] And then Tampa to Indian. And all those moves were in the world of hospitality. You get shuffled to where the heat is.

 

[ 00:23:17 ] Sure.

 

[ 00:23:18 ] Um, Chicago was to work with the re, uh, and, and Tampa was to work with, uh, another re, uh, Brookfield properties based on the East coast. Um, and Indy was to found story. Go.

 

[ 00:23:29 ] Okay.

 

[ 00:23:30 ] And Indy has that intentionally.

 

[ 00:23:33 ] Intentionally. Indy has been definitively the favorite place. Oh, that’s good to hear. Why? Why? Yeah. You know, in San Diego, in Los Angeles, in Chicago, tons and tons of people. But you are seven layers removed from anybody.

 

[ 00:23:51 ] Right.

 

[ 00:23:52 ] In Indianapolis, you’re probably one layer removed from that person. And in Chicago, you’ll send that person an email and maybe you’ll get a response. In Indy, you’re going to meet with them. You’ll have breakfast. You might not like the outcome of the meeting. That’s correct. But you’re going to meet with them because there’s this—whether it’s Midwest Nice or Hoosier Hospitality, I don’t know what it is— but there’s this passion in Indianapolis for people from Indy, even if you’re a transplant, to succeed in the world of entrepreneurship. Absolutely. And that’s unlike any other place I’ve been.

 

[ 00:24:27 ] Wow, that’s good. It is very relationship-driven. Yes.

 

[ 00:24:31 ] We were just talking about that just two hours ago, or an hour ago. I mean, literally. So, I mean, it’s a big enough town to be big, but not so big where once you’re a friend, you’re a friend.

 

[ 00:24:43 ] That’s exactly right. It feels like a big, small town. And the reason for the move to Indianapolis is, I don’t know if you all are familiar with Milhouse. Sure. Tad Miller. Yeah, I’ve met him. So, Tad Miller, I’m going to go back to how StoryCo started once more.

 

[ 00:25:02 ] Chris Wall, my business partner, and I— he’s the recovering banker for your listeners. We bought our first hotel, and we strung together friends and family for that raise. Sure.

 

[ 00:25:20 ] We went to an SBA lender to get that done. We went to buy our second hotel. It was just way outside of our personal fundraising bandwidth. We had never been in the business of raising capital before. We’d always been in the business of returning it. And we connected with Tad Miller, actually through a hunting buddy of his, who said, ‘Well, I think he raises some capital. You all don’t know.’ Millhouse is the 13th largest multifamily developer in the nation.

 

[ 00:25:47 ] Unbelievable downtown presence. Wow.

 

[ 00:25:50 ] And the guy happens to be an incredibly nice guy. Yep. Very down to earth. And he, along with Greg Martin, his chief operating officer and partner, and Andy Lahr of Onyx and East, they chose to invest in our parent company. And what came along with that was almost a business incubator. We office out of the Milhouse offices. Oh, cool. We have access to all of their backend infrastructure. And so when we have a question for counsel, we’re walking over to their in-house counsel, Quinton, who’s a real friend and as well as a colleague. When we’re working on a development, adding 34 cabins to Pine Mountain, we’re walking down the hall to Brad or to Jordan or to Austin for advice about how should we be looking at these plans? And it gives, you know, a small company. Know we’re big leverage that’s right. We’re 120 million dollar odd company. We get the infrastructure of of a group that’s got two million two billion in assets under management and so it gives us the the presence to be big while remaining small and nimble and able to tackle what’s immediately ahead of us.

 

[ 00:26:59 ] That’s that’s been such a happy marriage.

 

[ 00:27:02 ] They get a look at all your deals. Oh yeah, brilliant for them.

 

[ 00:27:08 ] Right.

 

[ 00:27:11 ] That’s exactly right. And Tad’s done that with a number of different groups. He launched a storage platform called Stacked, a manufacturing group, among others.

 

[ 00:27:23 ] Nice. That’s cool. So, all right.

 

[ 00:27:26 ] I hope I don’t get you in trouble with this question. If you do, say no. What’s your favorite resort property, hospitality property that you’ve been to in the United States? And why?

 

[ 00:27:37 ] Well, that is a great question.

 

[ 00:27:41 ] For you personally. Yeah. Not business

 

[ 00:27:44 ]-wise, but you just really enjoyed and you thought, man, that’s a really cool place.

 

[ 00:27:48 ] You know, we’re going to come back to history. I had the pleasure of staying at the Greenbrier in West Virginia.

 

[ 00:27:57 ] And, you know, I can share with you that the luxury component is nice.

 

[ 00:28:03 ] That’s not… what is most important to me. I’ve had the pleasure of working in luxury assets before. We do not acquire luxury assets today. And I know that property sits in that camp, but it’s over a thousand acres. Brandy and I went on an eight mile hike while we were there.

 

[ 00:28:22 ] We walked into the bunker and for your listeners, if you don’t know, there’s incredible history related to that bunker.

 

[ 00:28:30 ] 400 of the 1,000 rooms at the Greenbrier were built by the United States government. President Eisenhower built it as a nuclear bomb shelter for Congress. There are rooms down there for the Senate and for the House to meet with full recording. They used to have it fully kept for them and their families with food provisions for a calendar year. that they uh would recycle at all for forever it was it was a state secret or probably a national secret kept for like 50 odd years sure i’m i’m gonna butcher exactly the timelines and and components of it but but the idea is the idea so walking walking that property walking the grounds understanding the history um made for a really incredible experience for brandy sure and it was We were in a wedding in West Virginia, and it came immediately after staying in a room that had a tremendous amount, not the Greenbrier, had a tremendous amount of fleas and creepy crawlies.

 

[ 00:29:36 ] And we left shortly after check-in.

 

[ 00:29:40 ] I’ve done that before.

 

[ 00:29:43 ] And so part of it was how wonderful and amazing the Greenbrier was. And then also part of it was… Just the total picture of that experience, right? So that’s one that’s i think high on my list. Um, and maybe another would be if you’re ever in Lake Arrowhead, California, uh, it’s near Big Bear. There’s a really nice lodge there called the Lake Arrowhead Resort. That was the first project I worked on, uh, in an asset management capacity. The gentleman who was the general manager, their longtime friend, we’ve worked together a number of different times. And it was, I have an emotional connection to that asset because of the dire straits it was in at one point, and the great position it’s in today.

 

[ 00:30:35 ] And so that’s, that’s one that has a special place in my heart for personal reasons. Nice.

 

[ 00:30:40 ] That’s awesome. Talking about personal stuff, right? We talked before we started recording your pilot. So you get to fly around, right? Sometimes in your own plane and those kind of things. But you have a flying partner that I think we need to talk about, if I recall.

 

[ 00:30:54 ] You’re talking about, so full disclosure, I don’t yet have my pilot’s license. So don’t sign up for the flight with me. I’m a great…

 

[ 00:31:04 ] flyer of airplanes landing is just getting some bigger wheels on there.

 

[ 00:31:11 ] That’s right as Uh Jim, who’s a good friend and a flight instructor, would share. Uh, I am I am so good at landings that I try and do them multiple times just to make sure.

 

[ 00:31:23 ] Yeah, what you’re trying to get plenty of practice in. That’s exactly right. Bounces is fine, that’s right.

 

[ 00:31:26 ] Yeah, he that’s an average is that the hardest part.

 

[ 00:31:31 ] Oh, for sure. For sure. Landing is the most difficult component. Okay, travel partner, maybe not by plane.

 

[ 00:31:37 ] But yeah, our travel partner is Rudy, which is our year and a half old mini Aussie doodle. He is a little lunatic. He’s got a Snoopy costume and ear mutt muffs for when he has the pleasure of flying.

 

[ 00:31:55 ] And so it’s definitely… I’ll send you the photo. It’s worth seeing.

 

[ 00:32:01 ] We’re going to insert the photo here. It’ll pick it up in the text output.

 

[ 00:32:08 ] It’s such a great picture. So is Rudy going to deliver some gifts this year via playing?

 

[ 00:32:13 ] Yeah, that’s exactly right. And Adam, you’re hitting the nail on the head, right? His name is Rudy because he was born on… on the 25th of december so he’s short for rudolph so um yeah look the plane window opens and so i think the fa frowns on disposing of items out of there usually aim for the chimneys and so i look there there’s got to be a learning curve on the dog right just like come on rudy’s yeah just The near miss is okay.

 

[ 00:32:42 ] Yeah, that’s right. That’s right. So how many hours do you have, you know, in your process of getting your your license? Where are you in the kind of the journey of getting your your license?

 

[ 00:32:52 ] So Jim is gonna give me a hard time when he listens to this. I’ve got like 65 odd hours, I have way more hours than you need to be able to get your license.

 

[ 00:33:01 ] And a part of that is, you know, we’re, we’re acquiring and we’re developing hotels in areas that are best serviced by a point a private plane and for for your listeners and for clarity uh i fly a cessna 172 which is the equivalent of uh like a 84 volt sedan with 400 000 miles we need a few more projects to round trip before i can even uh make eye contact with the golf stream uh in the interim i walk around with a screwdriver to make sure that uh yeah that’s exactly right um You check your parachute before every launch. That’s exactly right. You can always glide your way in.

 

[ 00:33:49 ] But yeah, I’ve got plenty of hours. I’ve not had the diligence to take the test yet because I…

 

[ 00:33:59 ] Jim and I are able to fly to various assets and accomplish the goal. And Brandy is certainly not comfortable with me flying by myself until I probably have 150, 200 hours. And so I’m up for a while. That’s right. And so in the, in the coming weeks, I certainly need to get my formal license in the interim. I am still under his pilot in command under his tutelage.

 

[ 00:34:25 ] Yes.

 

[ 00:34:27 ] Awesome. Awesome.

 

[ 00:34:29 ] No? Okay. So how would people come to find out about you? Or how should people come to discover you?

 

[ 00:34:37 ] Well, we’re online, certainly.

 

[ 00:34:41 ] Storycollc. com is our website. Got it. Folks, I’m on LinkedIn.

 

[ 00:34:46 ] S-T-O-R-I-E.

 

[ 00:34:48 ] Thank you so much. S-T-O-R-I-E-C-O-L-L-C. com. Is there a story behind the story? You know, stories is spelled the Italian way for Della’s story, which is of stories. And we’re acquiring properties and assets that have a rich history. You bet. And ultimately, in the world of hospitality, you don’t walk away from a hotel experience with a physical item. You walk away with a story, with a memory and an experience. That’s what we transact on. And if we’re doing it right, it never actually is a transaction. It’s what you’re describing an experience. Awesome.

 

[ 00:35:30 ] Any other things?

 

[ 00:35:33 ] 2025, what do you see ahead?

 

[ 00:35:36 ] In the 2025 year, I think we’ll buy somewhere in the neighborhood of six to eight hotels and resorts in the greater Midwest.

 

[ 00:35:45 ] I think that there are going to be interest rate cuts. Wahoo. Please, please, please. Drumroll.

 

[ 00:35:54 ] If the Fed’s listening, that would be great. We really appreciate it.

 

[ 00:35:58 ] Alan Greenspan, come back, please.

 

[ 00:36:00 ] That’s right. That’s right.

 

[ 00:36:02 ] And I’ll have a pilot’s license. That’ll be fun and exciting.

 

[ 00:36:07 ] Rudy will be two and a half then in 2025?

 

[ 00:36:11 ] That’s exactly right. A big birthday, general birthday. All of Indy’s invited.

 

[ 00:36:18 ] The address is to be determined. That’s right. That’s right. That’s right. It’s an open bar though, right? Oh, of course. Yeah. Okay. All right. Absolutely. Hors d’oeuvres. Caviar. That’s it.

 

[ 00:36:27 ] Keep listening because the address will come in a future podcast.

 

[ 00:36:30 ] Yes, that’s right. Episode three.

 

[ 00:36:34 ] One year in 2026.

 

[ 00:36:36 ] That’s right.

 

[ 00:36:36 ] That’s right.

 

[ 00:36:36 ] That’s exactly right.

 

[ 00:36:38 ] Well, first of all, thank you for coming. What a fascinating story. I mean, we’ve done a lot of these and they’re all good, but from a niche standpoint and just your background and how you, ended up doing what you’re doing at the age you are, to be frank, because we’re old and you’re young, right? Wow. Impressive. Oh, thanks. Thanks, y’all.

 

[ 00:36:55 ] I’ve been around a lot of people a lot smarter than me who made the mistake of investing their time in me.

 

[ 00:37:02 ] So it has very little to do with my own prowess.

 

[ 00:37:04 ] Well, it’s rubbed off. It really has. Thank you.

 

[ 00:37:07 ] We really appreciate it. Well, I appreciate it as well. Thanks for having me. I’m really happy to be here. Happy to connect with your listeners. And this is a great conversation.

 

[ 00:37:16 ] Yeah. Awesome. That’s what we want. Thanks. Appreciate it. Yeah.