Hotel Alden in downtown Houston has been acquired by Northwood Investors, a privately-held investment advisor with $1.25 billion of equity to invest in real estate. Hotel Alden will be managed by a subsidiary of Northwood Investors.

Northwood Investors immediately announced the appointment of Hans Schmitt, as Hotel Alden’s General Manager and Managing Partner.

“Northwood Investors is an extremely well-capitalized firm with an impressive and experienced group of principals. I felt this opportunity would enable me to use the full breadth of my hospitality and equity experience. Hotel Alden is an exceptional boutique property with a promising future.”

Houston hotel veteran Hans Schmitt jumped at the opportunity to join Northwood Investors in this venture, “for several reasons,” explained Schmitt. “Northwood Investors is an extremely well-capitalized firm with an impressive and experienced group of principals. I felt this opportunity would enable me to use the full breadth of my hospitality and equity experience. Hotel Alden is an exceptional boutique property with a promising future.”

Schmitt’s expertise in hotel management has consistently produced great results for investment partners such as improving net operating income, while exceeding customer satisfaction results. During his 25-year career he has been named Best General Manager and several of his managed properties were awarded Best Hotel of the Year. In fact, Hotel Derek, which Schmitt managed prior to taking the reins at Hotel Alden, was named one of Travel & Leisure’s Best Business Hotels in 2009.

Hotel Alden is a 97-room luxury boutique property conveniently located to downtown businesses, blocks from the Houston Theatre District, George R. Brown Convention Center and Toyota Center. It is minutes from METRO rail, which connects downtown to the Museum District, Reliant Center and the Medical Center.

David McCaslin, a hospitality veteran with 34 years of experience, and an adviser for Northwood Investors, said that “After a search of U.S. properties we felt that Houston offered substantial upsides. Houston seems to have weathered the economic downturn better than most cities with area hotel occupancy rates starting to improve. Hotel Alden is one of the finest luxury boutique properties I’ve seen, but a bit of a secret.”

McCaslin added, “We were very impressed with the Hotel Alden’s sophisticated, yet residential feel and of course it’s prime CBD location. On a selective basis, we’ll be adding some Texas accents and are working with native Texan, Rebecca Jones to assist.”