The Accidental Hotelier

On a recent winter morning, Navin Dimond pulled his car into the parking garage of Stonebridge Companies’ Denver, Colorado, headquarters. He boarded the elevator to the building’s third floor and, as he made his way past the sleek, modern furnishings of the lobby, he entered his office, taking in the panoramic view of the snow-dusted Rocky Mountains. He felt a justifiable sense of pride for what he and his wife, Rita, had achieved, and he thought about the long journey to this place from his childhood home in London.

As the son of immigrant, blue-collar workers, Navin never imagined what now surrounded him—Stonebridge Companies—which owns and operates a broad portfolio of hotels throughout the United States.

Navin’s parents had emigrated to Britain from india, and he witnessed the value of their hard work from a young age. Navin acknowledges the examples his parents set for him, inspiring him to pursue his goals with passion, honesty, and integrity. “i never had a mentor per se. The people i looked up to—and it wasn’t even in an explicit way, but more of an intrinsic way—were my parents. i saw my father wake up really early every morning and go to bed late, working with his hands, working truly hard. That’s what inspired me. That has always been inside me.”

Recognizing the importance of proper education, Navin’s parents made great sacrifices to send him to a quality boarding school and it was at their insistence that Navin was the first in his family to pursue a higher education, confident that it was the key to realizing his potential.

WOW, thirty years! As a franchise rep for Marriott, I did one of my very first deals with Navin in the early 1990s and have been working with him ever since. Looking back over these years and the three lodging cycles in between, I can say that through Navin’s leadership, Stonebridge has emerged from each one a much stronger company. For any company to achieve thirty years of history is remarkable and I am proud to have been associated with Stonebridge since the beginning.

Bill Fortier Sr., VP of Development Americas Hilton Worldwide

Discovering Denver

After graduating from Copford College, a boarding school in Colchester, England, Navin enrolled at Washington State University, earning a bachelor’s degrees in both construction management and business administration in 1985. On a road trip afterward to visit his parents, then living in Texas, Navin stopped in Colorado to visit his close friend, Mark Sidell, a graduate student at the University of Denver. Explaining to Mark that he was eager to settle down and secure employment, his friend encouraged him to enroll in DU’s MBA program. As a bonus, Navin would earn a break on his tuition as a paid teaching assistant, a position he enjoyed and that enabled him to work with older Executive MBA students.

Fifteen months later, Navin graduated with an MBA with an emphasis in real estate and construction management. He was hired as an intern by the City and County of Denver to set up its office of asset management, his largest assignment being to help to acquire the land for Denver’s new Colorado Convention Center. A 1988 letter from Mayor Federico Peña thanked Navin for his tenacity and commitment in assisting with that accomplishment.

Eager for a new opportunity, Navin transitioned from government work to a position at Simcore Properties, brokering commercial real-estate deals and managing properties.

Major changes occurred in Navin’s personal life during this time, too, when family members introduced him to his future wife, Rita. They dated for a year and were married in Wichita, Kansas, in 1987.

A Dream Partnership

As Navin honed his abilities as a broker at Simcore, his business acumen impressed an important client, Wendell Lew, a Hawaii-based investor— and the two men became good friends. in 1991, during negotiations to purchase the Northridge Shopping Center in Arvada, Lew expressed confidence that Navin not only should participate as a broker of the deal, but also as a co-investor and manager of the property. Navin hesitated at first—putting money on the table was a giant step from simply brokering the transaction. But Lew was insistent, pointing out the many advantages to being an investor in real estate.

Navin and Rita warmed to the idea, scraping together the funds to join Lew as owners of the shopping center. Rita left her job at National

Continued on page 4 in 1992, Rita and Navin took on a project that would prove pivotal to their careers. The purchase of the dilapidated Bronco inn required that the couple take on the hotel’s daily management in addition to their other responsibilities within Stonebridge.

Rita relied on her background helping her parents run motels while growing up in California and Kansas. “My sister and i learned everything about the hotel business then, because my dad had us do the housekeeping, the laundry, clean the pool three times a day, sweep the parking lot. That was before Excel software was around, so we had a ledger of expenses and another ledger with guests’ names—my dad liked ledgers. We learned our work ethic from my parents.” Years later, that hands-on experience paid off handsomely as Rita and Navin successfully navigated operations at the Bronco inn.

The Bronco inn’s existing restaurant was sold to Applebee’s, which demolished it and built a new store, providing funds for a significant refurbishment as the couple rebranded the property to a Ramada Limited hotel. Their learning curve was steep, but ultimately the venture proved successful. Rita looks back on those times fondly, saying, “i love working hard and seeing the rewards for people who count on us to make it a success. it’s a lot of responsibility, but it’s also fun.”

I started working with Navin in 1996 and while I have seen his company grow, I feel like I have grown right alongside him, professionally and personally. I think our back and forth, challenging each other to think bigger and broader, has made us both better business leaders.

Eric B. Jacobs, Chief Development Officer, International Growth Marriott

tions of strength and progress, appealed to the young entrepreneurs and they chose to do business as Stonebridge Companies.

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City Bank and took over management of the large property, working from a home office. Her former manager at National City, Anthony Pizzichini, recalls her departure: “One day, my very talented and highly efficient assistant informed me that she and her husband were going into the real estate business. i was sad but, little did i know, i would gain one of the highest-quality customers it has been my privilege to work with.”

Rita explains that while Navin kept up with his responsibilities at Simcore, the two of them worked together to master the intricacies of property management. After leaving National City Bank, Rita earned her real estate license and broker’s license. “Navin was right by my side. We were just beginning—it was a new venture for us. it was fun,” Rita remembers. The couple found the work not only profitable, but rewarding as well, and they incorporated under the name Stonebridge Realty Advisors, inc., in 1991. The name Stonebridge, with its connota- in the following year, Navin and trusted colleague Gary Rohr left their positions at Simcore, allowing Gary and his wife, Beth, to formalize their partnership with the Dimonds in the newly formed Stonebridge Companies. Opportunity knocked again in the form of an investment in a modest 140-room hotel and restaurant that had been foreclosed upon in Northglenn, Colorado, a suburb of Denver. A longstanding local landmark, the Bronco inn, was badly in need of restoration, and Commercial Federal Bank, which then owned it (acquired via foreclosure), expressed confidence that the Stonebridge partners could take the asset over and breathe new life into it. Navin describes his attitude about possibly acquiring the hotel: “Our initial reaction was that it wasn’t really our thing. We were intrigued, but not really sure what we were dealing with.” The bank sweetened the deal by offering to finance 75 percent of the price—$1.55 million—asking that Stonebridge raise the rest. After Navin, Rita, and other family members invested in the project, the Bronco inn joined the small Stonebridge portfolio on January 8, 1993. No one could imagine then how the nondescript property, located far from Denver’s downtown, would become the launching pad for increasingly ambitious and worldclass hospitality projects across the United States.

An Intriguing Business

When asked about his path to success as a hotel owner and developer, Navin explains this was never his intended pursuit. But with the

Continued on page 7 in 1996, fresh off the success of many hotel openings, Navin’s mind turned to new markets that could provide Stonebridge with unique investment opportunities. Memories of an Alaskan vacation that he and Rita had enjoyed years before spurred his decision to explore building a hotel there. He remembers justifying the idea: “i said, ‘if we can do it in Alaska, we can do it anywhere.’”

Mark Lionberger, Stonebridge’s director of development at the time, led the effort to construct the brand-new Hampton inn Anchorage/ Midtown, which opened in 1997. The challenges of building this 101-room hotel in that remote location proved daunting, but Lionberger explains that the key to overcoming them was procuring supplies before they were needed. “in Alaska, there’s very little native production in terms of industry. So almost all materials come from elsewhere in one of three ways: slow boat, fast boat, and air. And each is increasingly expensive. if you order with plenty of lead time, you can go the less-expensive route by boat. But if you’re in a time crunch, materials must come by air, which becomes expensive pretty quickly.” acquisition of the Bronco inn, Navin and Rita found themselves at a career-defining fork in the road. They embraced a hands-on management role at the property as they completely refurbished it, rebranding it as a Ramada Limited hotel.

The crew also contended with extremely porous soils on site, requiring that the hotel’s footprint be replaced with a solid-rock foundation. The cold weather and short days were expected, and so were the challenges. in all, though, the project went smoothly and was lucrative from the start. “That hotel has always done well, it was a rock star since the day we opened,” Lionberger says.

Rita recalls the day they closed on the property. “i think there was a rumor going around that we were going to let go of some staff and a lot of the housekeepers had left, so i started making up the rooms myself. i grew up in the hotel business, so i knew about the very long days—it was tough work balancing housekeeping and the front desk—physically and mentally. Ashley was a newborn and it was hard to juggle everything. Those times make me look back and say, ‘That

challenge is what made me who i am today.’”

She describes the family’s first Christmas at the Bronco inn, when she brought in a take-out dinner from a local restaurant for the hotel staff, inviting their families to join the celebration. “it was just so cool being in our hotel, serving everyone dinner. We didn’t have much in the way of financial resources back then, so that was very satisfying.”

Also rewarding was their discovery that the venture was more profitable than they imagined it would be, and its potential as an income stream became apparent—a turning point in the life of the company.

As Stonebridge sought new opportunities, they became increasingly aware that a more strategic approach to finding properties and potential investors was necessary. Building on Stonebridge’s growing reputation in Denver’s business community, they began to seek out properties with unrealized potential, gaining investors’ confidence in their ability to find great properties that others had overlooked.

For years, the Rifkin family has considered Stonebridge to be a trusted partner. The COVID pandemic, though, brought into focus just how much we trust and value Navin and his company. We knew the hospitality industry was going to have its roughest time ever but we also had faith in our partner. Stonebridge was thinking ahead, they were ready to answer any question, and the regular information flow was excellent. But also, we already had confidence because we knew this group. The depth and discipline in the organization, starting with Navin, is best of class. Our hotel investments did very well in good times and they have come back, each and every one, intact and ready to perform.

Monty Rifkin, Founder Rifkin & Associates

in 1994, Stonebridge was approached by city officials in Delta, Colorado, about building a hotel. in yet another turning point for the company, Stonebridge agreed to develop its hotel from the ground up, a Comfort inn in Delta, completing the work in the span of less than four months. “From a return standpoint,” Navin explains, “we did well. Our investors were very happy, and we thought: ‘Wow, this is interesting.’ We were gaining some traction. it felt intriguing, this hotel business.”

Rita hit the ground running with every hotel acquisition or development, often with Ashley in tow. “We bought a Super 8 in Longmont