A 28-year-old Californian checked into a hostel in Cap Hill last week. And not for a night.
Nick Desai Jr. bought the place.
“I feel like I can give my two cents and go ahead and implement new strategies, add new amenities, change up the look here and there but still keep that historic touch that this property has to it,” Desai told BusinessDen.
He purchased the 66-bed Ember Hostel and its real estate at 857 N. Grant St. for a combined $2.4 million, closing on the property last Thursday. It’s the first business he’s bought on his own.
The seller in the deal, Andy Ward, bought the old Foursquare home in 2016, and opened the hostel the following year. He spent $1.3 million on the real estate and said at the time he expected to spend $300,000 to $500,000 renovating it.
Reached by phone Tuesday, Ward declined to comment on the sale.
The house was built in 1909 and sits on a 9,400-square-foot lot. County records show the building is 7,300 square feet, although Ember’s website puts it at 9,000 square feet. It includes shared and private rooms, along with a 12-person hot tub on a “420-friendly back patio” open year-round.
An average night in a shared room will run you about $40 to $60.
“It is a turnkey business,” Desai said, adding that no immediate changes are planned.
Long-term, the young entrepreneur hopes to add more amenities for travelers, like ski trips, and put his own touches on the property. But ideas and budgets are still being fleshed out as he speaks with the existing staff.
Desai isn’t a newbie to the hospitality industry, though. He literally grew up in a hotel.
His parents ran a “mom-and-pop” hotel in Healdsburg, the heart of California’s wine country. He worked the front desk and helped with housekeeping and maintenance, he said. As he aged, he worked in finance, operations and renovations.
“From a very early age, I know what it’s like,” he said of running a hotel.
Prior to graduating from Cal Poly and a brief stint working in public accounting, he and his father had managed and developed three hotels around California. Once Desai graduated, he launched his own hospitality business to manage them after, under the name Pinnacle Management Group. That entity will manage Ember Hostel.
Desai’s father retired after those properties were completed, and the twenty-something started to look for existing hospitality businesses that he could run. He said he wanted something he could have lots of control over, where he could participate heavily in day-to-day operations.
Enter Ember Hostel.
“I thought that this business was so unique,” Desai said.
After seeing a listing for the property, he came to Denver to tour it. He’d only been to the Mile High City a few times prior. But he quickly fell in love with the “prime” location. Public records show he financed the deal with a roughly $2 million, 25-year loan from Mission Valley Bank. His wife will help out with running the business, too.
“Im just happy to obtain an asset in such a nice downtown metropolitan area where there is room for opportunity and growth,” Desai said.
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