After a successful tenure at Brookfield Asset Management, real estate executive Damon Healey has launched Eternal Companies, a DC based investment firm focusing on acquiring and operating extended stay hotels in secondary markets throughout the US.

It’s a market segment Healey is deeply familiar with. Previously, he led Brookfield Asset Management’s nationwide expansion of its extended stay hospitality portfolio. During that period, he created a $400M acquisitions and development pipeline and led the firm’s investment committee approval process before Brookfield sold their portfolio to Blackstone and Starwood Capital Group for $1.5 billion.

While private equity firms have a long history of aggregating extended stay hotels, the industry is still highly fragmented, and predominantly owned by small local players. Healey saw an opportunity to acquire assets with a history of strong performance, but too small for the institutional companies to focus on.

He elaborated. “We acquire assets in submarkets that are supply-constrained or lack a deep development pipeline. They’re already outperformers but may be early 2000s vintage and in need of renovations. By completing a property improvement plan, we can really position them as the most attractive local option for those seeking long duration stays.”

Prior to Brookfield, Mr. Healey oversaw a $1.8 billion expansion into the Mid-Atlantic, Mid-Western, & Northeastern United States for LIDL US, Europe’s largest grocer. Additionally, Mr. Healey served as Investment Associate and Analyst roles at Jair Lynch Real Estate Partners, KeyBank Real Estate Capital, and Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services.