Benjamin C. Tschann

Ben Tschann is a partner in Goodwin’s Real Estate Industry group and its Hospitality & Leisure, Real Estate Joint Venture, and Real Estate Finance practices. Ben serves as co-chair of Goodwin’s Hospitality & Leisure practice and is recognized as one of the top hospitality and leisure lawyers in the United States.

While Ben’s practice covers all real estate asset classes, his focus is in real estate assets with an operating business, including hotels and resorts, senior housing/assisted living, and other similar assets such as serviced residential/multifamily and student housing. His work covers structuring, negotiation and documenting complex real estate transactions, including acquisitions and dispositions, joint ventures, debt financings, preferred equity and mezzanine financings, work-outs and restructurings, and short-sales. Ben works with some of the largest institutional investors and real estate developers and sponsors, REITs, insurance companies, family offices/high net-worth individuals, and pension funds in the United States, including AEW Capital, AutoCamp, Behring Capital, DiamondRock Hospitality Company, HEI Hotels & Resorts, Jaybird Capital, KHP Capital, Quadrum Global, Rockwood Capital, and Sunstone Hotel Investors.

Ben has a detailed understanding of hotel operations and critical business functions that impact the ownership and operation of hotels and resorts, senior housing/assisted living and other similar real estate investments that are coupled with an operating business.

He has negotiated dozens of hotel management agreements with HEI Hotels, Quadrum Global, Eagle Point Hotel Partners, AutoCamp, and other emerging hospitality operators, and has negotiated more than 80 hotel management agreements on behalf of hotel managers. He is uniquely positioned to advise the key players in the hospitality and leisure eco-system given his work for both owners/investors and operators. He has worked on all types of hotels and resorts ranging from urban-luxury with branded residential to resort casinos to select service projects. In addition, he has handled numerous transactions involving labor unions and collective bargaining agreements, restaurant and bar operating agreements, and celebrity chef affiliations.

Ben has also handled various cross-border transactions, including the negotiations of hotel management agreements and franchise agreements for clients in Europe and the United Kingdom. In addition to his work overseas, he has worked with numerous foreign investors on structuring real estate investments in the United States, including handling complex tax structurings.

Ben has also handled various management agreements and operating leases common to the senior housing and assisted living space. He is a member of Goodwin’s PropTech team and has worked closely with several PropTech clients in the hospitality and real estate sectors.

Some of Ben’s recent work includes representing:

• AEW Capital in connection with:
  • the purchase of a large-full service hotel in Austin, TX together with the formation of a joint venture with Sage Hospitality and a third-party financing.
  • the sale of the W Hotel Atlanta to a large institutional investor
• AutoCamp in entry into a $100 million programmatic joint venture with a real estate private equity company for the acquisition, development, re-positioning, management ad operation of high-end outdoor lodging properties throughout the U.S. and subsequent acquisitions and financings for AutoCamp properties
• Behring Capital and its affiliates in the approximately $350 million closing of their preferred equity joint venture with Essex Portfolio for the development of a multi-family mixed use development in Downtown Oakland together with a construction loan with Bank OZK
• DiamondRock Hospitality Company in an acquisition of Cavallo Point: The Lodge at the Golden Gate; the acquisition was structured as an UPREIT, together with a long-term leasehold interest in the luxury resort
• Eagle Point Hotel Partners in connection with:
  • the formation of its joint venture with a hotel property management firm to combine their respective management and operational business services in connection with the creation of Sightline Hospitality
  • the acquisition of the Kauai Beach Resort from affiliates of iStar Inc. and subsequent preferred equity joint venture with an affiliate of GAW Capital Partners
• Fairmont Raffles Hotel International in its joint venture with an affiliate of Blum Capital to purchase the Claremont Resort and Spa in Berkeley, CA and in connection with the purchase and recapitalization of the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn in Sonoma, CA and the subsequent sale of the interest
• HEI Hotels in connection with the negotiation of various hotel management agreements, acquisitions, sales and dispositions including:
  • a joint venture agreement and hotel management agreement with Davidson Kempner in connection with the acquisition and ownership of the Westin Grand Central
  • a hotel management agreement, a technical service agreement, and other related agreements with a Residence Inn and Autograph collection hotel in Weehawken, NJ
  • a new hotel management agreement with LaSalle Hotel Properties (now Pebblebrook Hotel Trust), a publicly traded REIT for the Liberty Boston, a Luxury Collection hotel and the Chicago Hotel, an Autograph Collection hotel
  • hotel management and related agreements with Monterey Tides hotel in Monterey, CA
  • hotel management and asset management agreements with Arden Group for the Le Meridien Central Park
  • hotel management agreement with Walton Street for the Westin Tampa
• Jaybird Capital Holdings in connection with:
  • HUD Financings of various senior housing facilities located in Wisconsin and Minnesota
  • the acquisition of a portfolio of six senior housing facilities located across Iowa
  • the acquisition and financing of two senior living facilities located in Minnesota
  • the acquisition of a portfolio of ten senior living facilities across the Midwest
  • the acquisition of a senior living management company for the management of more than 30 assets across the Midwest
• Quadrum Global in connection with:
  • the formation of a hotel management company and related agreements in connection with the Arlo brand
  • the formation of a joint venture with an affiliate of a real estate investment firm for the acquisition of an 11-story building in Chicago, IL for renovation and conversion to a 200-room independent brand hotel
  • the purchase of an industrial warehouse site in Brooklyn, NY for redevelopment with multi-family units
• Rockwood Capital in connection with:
  • the sale of two Florida hotels, the Jupiter Beach Resort and Courtyard Marriott Jensen, to Ocean Properties
  • the sale of the Cranbury Courtyard Marriott Hotel to Aztec Group Miami, and termination of the existing management agreement with Ocean Properties
  • the sale of Hall Hotel, Miami Beach to a subsidiary of Grup Perelada
  • the sale of the Holiday Inn Lido Beach, in Lido Beach, FL
  • the sale of the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel in Boynton Beach, FL
  • its acquisition of a select service hotel located in New Orleans, LA and the negotiation of a new hotel management contract with an affiliate of Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group
• Raith Capital Partners with the acquisition of six Embassy Suites hotel properties located across the U.S.
• Sunstone Hotel Investors in connection with:
  • its acquisition of the Hyatt Regency at Embarcadero Center in San Francisco, CA
  • its acquisition of the 1,053-room Boston Park Plaza hotel in Boston, MA

Prior to joining Goodwin, Ben was an associate in the Los Angeles office of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP. Prior to law school, Ben worked at Charles Schwab Inc., as part of its online content development team.

Ben is listed in the nationwide Leisure & Hospitality category in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, where he is praised for being "very responsive and very quick on turning things around," “practical and business-minded when it comes to solving problems,” and offering "a very good combination of legal and commercial advice." He also has been identified as a “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers.

Ben has written various articles for Hotel News Now and is often quoted in various real estate publications. Ben has been a member of the American Lodging Investment Summit planning committee. He has helped lead Goodwin’s involvement in various hotel conferences, including ALIS, the HELP Conference and the Georgetown Law School Hospitality Conference. Ben has also participated in multiple speaking engagements and authored various articles including:

Recent Speaking Engagements:

• Speaker, “Hotel Segments – Alternative and Experiential Lodging” The Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS), January 2024
• Panel Moderator, “Acquisitions Track: Wall Street Outlook,” The Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS), January 2020
• Speaker, “Video: Hospitality + Leisure Trends,” goodwinlaw.com, June 21, 2019
• Panel Moderator, “Acquisitions Track: Gateway Markets,” The Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS), January 2019
• Speaker, “Video: Hot Hospitality + Leisure Trends and Topics,” goodwinlaw.com, April 5, 2017

Recent Publications:

• Co-Author, “Considerations for Operators: Reopening Fitness Facilities Amidst COVID-19,” goodwinlaw.com, May 21, 2020
• Co-Author, “Coming to Terms: The Importance of Term Sheets in Late Cycle Hotel Transactions,” goodwinlaw.com, March 10, 2020
• Co-Author, “How to Effectively Negotiate a Hotel Franchise License Agreement,” goodwinlaw.com, February 28, 2018
• Co-Author, “A Look at Chinese Investment in the United States Hospitality and Leisure Market,” goodwinlaw.com, January 24, 2017