About
Professional Summary
Rich Lillis is a leading expert providing strategic advisory services to clients on hotel and resort investment sales and financing in Florida, Eastern United States and the Caribbean. In the dynamic hotel investment market, Rich and his team provide valuable solutions to hotel owners and investors, developers, land owners, regional lenders and special servicers.
As a frequent speaker at national hotel investment conferences ALIS, NYU and NABHOOD, Rich offers a unique perspective from his deep experience and diverse lodging background.
Prior experience includes Miami practice leader at Horwath HTL, asset management at Ocwen Financial Corporation and hotel management positions at New Castle, Doral, Marriott International and Plaza Hotel. Rich earned his Bachelor of Science in Economics from State University in New York and is a Florida licensed real estate broker. Rich and his wife Maureen reside in Boca Raton, Florida.
Colliers is global leader in lodging investment services with 150 dedicated hotel professionals in the USA, Canada, EMEA and APAC providing transaction, financing, consulting and valuation services.
Accomplishments
Rich has extensive transaction and advisory experience with a wide variety of hotels and resorts. A sample of completed transactions is listed below:
- Holiday Inn Resort Jekyll Island, Georgia
- Residence Inn Cape Canaveral, Florida
- Sea Crest Beach Hotel, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
- Hampton Inn & Homewood Suites, Woburn, Massachusetts dual-brand development
- Quality Inn & Suites, Cocoa Beach, Florida
- DoubleTree Hotel, Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania
- Quality Inn Hotel & IHOP Restaurant, West Palm Beach, Florida (2016 and 2022)
- Hampton Inn & Suites, Destin-Sandestin, Florida
- Beachview Club Hotel, Jekyll Island, Georgia (2013 and 2017)
- Wyndham Riverwalk Hotel, Jacksonville, Florida
- Waterfront Hotel Development Site, Pompano Beach, Florida
- Cocoa Beach Oceanside Inn, Florida
- Bridgeside Hotel Development Site, Charleston, South Carolina
- Camden Resort, Lake Ozarks, Missouri
- Old Kinderhook Resort, Camdenton, Missouri
- Hampton Inn & Suites Newtown, Yardley, Pennsylvania
- Hilton Garden Inn, Tampa, Florida
- Comfort Inn, Plant City, Florida
- Holiday Inn Express, Jacksonville, Florida
- Inn on the Beach, Daytona Beach, Florida
- Country Inn & Suites, Omaha, Nebraska
- Guesthouse Hotel, Nashville, Tennessee
- Boise Hotel & Conference Center, Boise, Idaho
- Canoa Coral by Hilton, Bayahibe, Dominican Republic
- Guavaberry Golf and Country Club, Juan Dolio, Dominican Republic
- Hamaca Coral by Hilton, Boca Chica, Dominican Republic
- Marien Coral by Hilton, Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic
- Resort Development Site, Rodney Bay, St. Lucia West Indies
Education
- BS in Economics with honors, State University of New York
- Licensed Florida real estate broker
Memberships & Involvements
ULI - Florida Hospitality & Leisure Product Council
Clients
- New Castle Hotels & Resorts
- The Cherry Cove Group
- LG International USA
- LNR Partners
- Hudson Advisors - Lone Star Funds
- Delaware North Corporation
- Eightfold Capital
- Ocean Partners
- Rio Partners
- Valley View Bank
- Pacifica Companies
- Marx Realty
- Benenson Capital Partners
- Torchlight Investors
- Madison Properties LLC
- CW Capital
Services
Skills
Service Lines
Property Type
Specializations
My Team
My Team
Melissa works with brokers in the Miami office to create high-quality marketing pieces, proposals and presentations for properties throughout South Florida. She is responsible for the day-to-day production of property marketing, flyers, advertising, market research and lease transaction coordination. Additionally, she specializes in layout design and creating detailed maps and graphics using software such as Indesign and Illustrator.
She began her career as a copy editor and front page designer at Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers and worked there for more than nine years.
Prior to joining Colliers, she was the communications specialist at United HomeCare, a nonprofit organization that provides services to seniors to help them remain at home. Along with office communications, she provided graphic design services for the nonprofit. Her previous background also includes a position as marketing coordinator at Transwestern, providing services to more than 10 brokers in their Miami office. Prior to this role, she served as a proposal coordinator for The GEO Group in Boca Raton, a leading provider of correctional, detention and community reentry services.
Patrick Phipps is the Managing Director for the Jacksonville, Florida office of Colliers International Valuation & Advisory Services. He has been actively engaged in real estate valuation and advisory since 2002 with appraisal reports prepared for a wide variety of public and private clients. His experience includes analysis and appraisal of all types of real estate, including residential, retail, office, agricultural, industrial, HUD Rent Comparability Studies (RCS), and special purpose properties, among others.
Mr. Phipps has extensive specialized expertise in hospitality properties with over 150 properties appraised throughout the Southeast and New York.
He also focuses on appraisals for litigation, including specializing in eminent domain. He is an Appraiser of Record for the Florida Department of Transportation and has been qualified as an expert witness throughout Florida, preparing appraisals for condemnors and private property owners.
As Vice Chairman, Capital Markets | Florida, Warren oversees a full spectrum of Colliers services including real estate investment sales, capital market transactions and development activities.
As the former Co-Founder and Chairman of CREC, Warren brings more than 30 years of real estate industry experience and leadership to Colliers. Under his direction, CREC closed more than $3 billion in sales transactions and executed more than half a billion in workout assignments. Colliers acquired the leading, independent CRE firm in November of 2018.
While at CREC, Mr. Weiser also served as Chairman of The Continental Group (“TCG”), a residential management company with a total portfolio of 50,000 units. Prior to co-founding CREC and TCG, Mr. Weiser was the Vice President of Development for The Continental Companies for eight years.
As Executive Vice President of the Debt and Equity Finance group in South Florida, Shannon Rex leads a team of investment banking advisory professionals which focuses on the placement of debt and equity in the capital markets arena. Throughout his storied career, Shannon Rex has been involved in the acquisition, disposition, and capitalization of more than $2 Billion in commercial real estate that spans over all asset types and structures.
While Shannon’s career has spanned over 20 years, he has developed solid relationships throughout the industry with key principals in commercial investment banking, life insurance companies, pension funds, private equity, high-net worth individuals, and family offices. His goal is to assist the client with an aligned, debt and/or equity placement utilizing those key relationships to execute the most efficient structure as possible.
With a base in South Florida, the Colliers Debt and Equity Finance Group focuses exclusively on the capital stack for all asset classes of commercial real estate. The team is comprised of experienced professionals with diverse backgrounds in development, asset management, banking and finance, accounting, and operations. It leverages its experience and resources to develop strategic capital markets execution plans, from the relatively straight forward, to the more complex structured finance/joint venture transactions. The team is focused on ensuring clients are provided the highest level of service to achieve their goals.