Orange Station Boutique Hotel Development Opportunity, Downtown St. Petersburg, Florida

Lou Plasencia

Tampa, Florida | Industry Tenure: 41 Years

As the firm’s Chairman and CEO, Lou Plasencia is responsible for The Plasencia Group’s business development activities and the oversight of all acquisitions, dispositions, and advisory engagements. He began his career with Hyatt Hotels Corporation over thirty years ago. After his departure from Hyatt, Lou spent a number of years growing the hospitality investment sales division of a major national commercial real estate firm.

A natural trailblazer, the father of three eventually left the corporate environment in 1993 to launch his own firm, The Plasencia Group, a boutique alternative to corporate hotel brokerage. The close-knit firm was born out of passion and sheer gumption. The oldest of three siblings, Lou arrived in Tampa’s cigar-making district as a young Cuban immigrant, living with his family in a one-room apartment. He is the son of a cigar factory worker who he says instilled in him the importance of “committing yourself to one thing and doing it ethically and better than anyone else.”

As an undergrad at Loyola University in New Orleans, he studied psychology and broadcast media before going on to get his master’s in education from Indiana University. After serving as a Student Affairs administrator at Indiana and then at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, Lou landed a job in sales and marketing department at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans. He eventually returned to Tampa to oversee the development of the Grand Hyatt on the shores of Tampa Bay. From there, he launched a long and storied career in hotel investment sales and consulting and is recognized today as one of the most experienced hotel real estate advisors in the country.

During his three-plus decades as the face of The Plasencia Group, Lou has steered a plethora of heavy-hitting hospitality deals, including one-off transactions and major portfolio disposition engagements. Over the years, he has brought together owners and investors for the InterContinental Hotels in Chicago and Miami, the Four Seasons in Atlanta, Amelia Island Resort in Northeast Florida, PGA National in Palm Beach, the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, and the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix. Recognized for his integrity and deal savvy, he has served as a trusted advisor for Apollo Global, Brookfield Asset Management, Hilton Hotels Corporation, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, MetLife Real Estate Investments, Starwood Capital, and Walton Street Capital. Other transaction and consulting clients include Bank of America, Blackstone Group, Host Hotels & Resorts, PGIM, RLJ Lodging Trust and countless family offices and high-net-worth hotel and resort owners.

Lou is an active member of the Hospitality Investment Roundtable of the AHLA. He serves on the Boards of Directors of the Florida Council of 100, the Hillsborough County Tourist Development Council, the Advisory Board for Visit Tampa Bay, and chairs the School Advisory Council of St. Lawrence Parish in Tampa. He previously served on the Board of Trustees of Jesuit High School (Tampa).

A longtime resident of Tampa, he is proud to work alongside his three sons (Chris, Nick and John) in the family business. Lou has been married for four decades to his wife Jennifer, with whom he enjoys cooking, traveling, and playing “off the grid.” If he doesn’t answer his cell phone, it’s because he’s out fishing or hiking a forest.

“One of my favorite words in my native Spanish is “confianza”. It’s the close trust that builds in a friendship over time. It’s the very real affection we have for our longstanding clients. It’s also something we work hard to earn and, most importantly, it lasts a lifetime.”

Andrew Pappas

Tampa, Florida | Industry Tenure: 4 Years

Andrew Pappas, a Tampa Bay area native, joined the Plasencia Group in August 2019 after spending nearly two years as a research analyst in the industrial and retail sectors for the real estate behemoth CBRE, while simultaneously earning his masters degree in Real Estate Finance at Georgetown University. He finds that working for the more boutique Plascencia Group puts him “in the trenches,” closer to the dealmaking, than his tenure at CBRE, where he mostly did broad market research and issued quarterly reports. “It’s definitely an engaging environment here,” he says, “and it’s more professionally satisfying to know that my work directly affects client engagements.”

Andrew supports The Plasencia Group’s lodging transaction and advisory engagements through financial modeling and value and feasibility analysis. He digs deep into troves of data to evaluate hotel and resort financial performance. But he’s not just a numbers cruncher. Andrew is essential to the development of investment marketing materials, providing memoranda and other supporting content that make properties — from premium-branded select service hotels to independent resort complexes — attractive to potential buyers. He continuously hones his skills by working alongside team members with decades of experience across the industry.

Andrew grew up in Clearwater, the son of a real estate attorney. In high school and college, Andrew worked part-time in his father’s law office. Pursuing an interest in real estate, he earned a finance degree from University of South Florida and a Masters in Real Estate Finance at Georgetown University, which combined two of his passions to create a rewarding career.

Andrew is steeped in the heritage of his Greek ethnicity. His mother grew up in Athens and his paternal grandfather owned a Greek bakery in Cleveland, Ohio. He weight trains regularly and plays ice hockey, drums and guitar with friends.

“It’s definitely an engaging environment here and it’s professionally satisfying to know that my work directly affects client engagements.”