WAYZATYA, MN— Forget about building better mousetraps. Milestone Hotel Investments here might do well to prepare for the hotel world beating a path to its door as word gets out the 15-year-old real estate investment firm has access to a considerable amount of equity capital and is eager to spend it. As the organization’s VP/Acquisitions Jasen Mark pointed out, in the course of putting this equity money to good use, there is a world of difference between investing it wisely and throwing it away haphazardly. “In every sense,” Mark said, “we are opportunity buyers and we feel that— given the current conditions in the marketplace— this is an opportune time to be buying.” Moreover, Milestone is of a mind to consistently share this opportunity with others. Over the years, the company has put together a portfolio of 38 hotels: 37 of them in partnership with The Ramkota Cos., and one (so far) in tandem with American Property Management. Accordingly, Mark maintained the firm is determined to continue along this route— with its current partners as well as via new operational entities. “We’re ready to jump into the market with both feet,” the Milestone executive said. “As such, we’re selectively looking for operating partners. And while we anticipate some degree of equity buy-in by hotel operators hooking up with us [as a means of aligning interests], we can certainly be very creative when it comes to striking up a profitable partnership,” he added. However, this expectation of sliver equity involvement should not be construed as an indication that Milestone doesn’t have a well-stocked acquisition war chest. In fact, Mark contended nothing could be further from the truth. “We have excellent access— and relationships— with a core of high-net-worth investors as well as with other large, well-funded investment-capital sources we can call on,” he said. In tune with this bottom-line point-of-view, he emphasized: “If the opportunity is right, we are positioned to take down a transaction of any size, in any part of the country, covering any segment of the lodging industry.” What might constitute “the right opportunity?” Mark said this might mean a property or properties that present a good chance for some operational turnaround. He explained this might encompass the implementation of greater operational efficiencies, the chance to strengthen a property’s competitive positioning through the prudent funding of capital improvements, etc. As for how those “right opportunities” will be uncovered, Mark suggested that one approach that has historically worked well is that of the operator “bringing us their ideas of what they feel are sound investment opportunities.” As he noted, potential partners should not feel shy or reticent about coming to Milestone in this manner. “After all,” he reiterated, “we’re a hotel investor that thinks and acts like a buyer/owner and that includes taking a long-term focus on all deals. We’re not ones to be jumping in and out of the market.” Accordingly, as Milestone re-aligns its positioning to be more of a hotel real-estate, investment-banking organization with its sights increasingly trained on high-yield deals, opportunities for significant growth will not be taking up permanent residency at its doorstep alone. As Mark sized up the situation: “When we say we’re ‘selectively’ looking for hotel-investment partners, we mean just that. “Not only are we open to teaming up with those operators who can show us a successful track record, but we are also only looking to work with a handful of partners [perhaps four to six operating companies]at this time,” he advised. Given the observation that there is a dearth of investment capital currently available, Mark admitted that Milestone expects to field a substantial number of inquiries— and offers— over the coming months, and is prepared to winnow the field to those the company feels offer the soundest premise and/or the most promise.