With the great recession behind us, Americans are spending on travel and hotels again. (Tiny bar of soap makers are ecstatic. Would their industry be called Big Little Soap?) This means lenders are now a little more hospitable to hotel developers.

Winstead shareholder Nick Pyka-- whose firm is sponsoring our third annual Austin State of the Market event April 30--tells us for the past six months, hes seen increasing numbers of hospitality deals come across his desk,from all over the state. CMBS investor confidence is key, and the market is very strong right now, he says. (Remember when CMBS was such a dirty word that you weren't allowed to say it in school?) When CMBS 2.0 came about in 2010, there were very few hotel deals in those pools; thats changed in the last year, especially the past six months. Nick has worked several retail, office, and hospitality deals with local property owners in the CMBS market on both the borrower and lender side.

Nick transferred to the Austin Winstead office around Labor Day (clearly packing up his white shoes first) from Dallas with his wife and baby in tow. The Fredericksburg native tells us his role in the CRE permanent finance arena further complements an existing real estate practice in the Winstead Austin office, joining fellow real estate attorneys Steve Drenner, Bob Burton, Greta Goldsby, David Hewlett, Carey Helm, John Donisi, Kristi Stotts, and Amanda Baxter. Colleague Steve will be moderating an expert panel at our event, sodon't miss out!