Family Office Cash Drives New York Luxury Hotel Buying Spree

Gencom, a Miami-based real estate developer and operator, has snapped up two New York City luxury hotels in the past four months, funded in large part by family offices.

Such investment firms have typically made up 20% or so of the capital pool when closing on transactions, but that number is now above 50% for Gencom, with the most recent deals almost entirely driven by wealthy families, Chief Investment Officer Alessandro Colantonio said in an interview.

Fueling that trend is a new partnership with Miami-based White Bridge Capital, which advises wealthy families mostly from Latin America and Europe ...