BusinessView Spring 2018 | OTO Development

When Corry Oakes was on his first recruiting trip as a future linebacker for the Wofford College football team, his family told an assistant coach they planned to check out Spartanburg’s downtown before returning home.

“There’s no reason to do that,” was the coach’s response. Indeed, Downtown Spartanburg at that time — like many, if not most downtowns in the mid-1980s — was not the bustling place it is today. But it was soon to become Oakes’ adopted hometown, for his college years and then for life, as he began a career fresh out of Wofford working with George Dean Johnson Jr.

The city has grown since then — and downtown is poised for explosive growth now — through the leadership, vision and inspiration of the Johnson family, Oakes and many others who are positioning Spartanburg as a business community where corporate headquarters can thrive.

From his office in the One Morgan Square building overlooking downtown, Oakes has a view of a changing skyline. As co-founder and CEO of OTO Development — a Johnson Management company — Oakes also oversees a hotel management and development company that expects its portfolio to grow to more than 70 properties across the United States by the end of the year. Included in that figure is the first AC Hotel by Marriott in South Carolina.

The 10-story AC Hotel Spartanburg — which opened fall 2017 at 225 W. Main St. — is owned by the Johnson family, with OTO serving as developer and operator. It has five suites and 109 rooms along with the Level 10 rooftop restaurant/bar, the AC Lounge, an outdoor pool and a fitness center. The hotel also serves as a showcase for a significant collection of museum-caliber, mid-century art on loan from The Johnson Collection.

“The OTO team is honored to play a part in this dynamic new addition to Downtown Spartanburg, an incredible gift from the Johnson family,” Oakes said. “… Unlike 99.9 percent of the new buildings in America today, which are typically built with short-term economics in mind and are built as quickly and as cheaply as possible, that building is being built to last. That’s a 100-plus-year building.

“It’s a piece of art. I hope people will pay attention to the details and appreciate the hand of the craftsman. The inside will be full of art, and the outside is also a work of art. When this AC Hotel is finished, it will be something that everyone in Spartanburg will be proud to say is in their town.”

OTO Development has made Spartanburg home since its founding in 2004. While the company is active in the community through its support of the United Way of the Piedmont, the Spartanburg Academic Movement and the Chapman Cultural Center, it isn’t as well-known as perhaps it should be. OTO today stands as one of the fastest-growing and most well-respected developers and operators in the lodging industry.

The company — launched with fewer than a dozen people in a couple of cubes in the Johnson Management office — owned or had third-party management contracts on 26 properties by 2009. That figure grew to 35 in 2013, 47 in 2015 and 54 last year. Currently, OTO has nine more hotels under construction.

But it’s not just those numbers that tell the OTO story. It’s the quality of their work. Earlier this year, OTO Development earned developer of the year honors from both Hilton and Marriott.

“The OTO team has the talent and patience to develop in the most difficult of markets, then operate with a first-rate property management team,” said Bill Fortier, Hilton’s Senior Vice President, Development, Americas in a press release announcing the Hilton Developer of the Year award. “Hospitality is not just talk with OTO. It’s truly in their DNA.”

In a press release about Marriott’s CONNECT Developer of the Year award, Marriott International Chief Development Officer Eric Jacobs said: “OTO Development continues to bring high-quality projects in tough-to-build locations. OTO recently opened a Courtyard three blocks off the Santa Monica Pier — in a city where there hasn’t been a new-build hotel for over 25 years — and a second Courtyard in Redwood City, in the heart of Silicon Valley. These are examples of how OTO is willing to go into markets that many stay away from due to the complexity, time and effort that it takes to bring projects to fruition.”

The awards help when OTO goes into a new community with the hopes of developing a property. It would be easy to show websites or photos of the incredible work they’ve done, but having top industry awards adds more credence.

“It’s one thing for people look at their child and say ‘Our child is the prettiest’ or ‘Our child is the smartest.’ To have industry leaders acknowledge what your company is doing is incredibly rewarding,” Oakes said. “You can blow yourself up and never really believe it, but there’s a lot of satisfaction when the entire team is recognized by our peers.”

Properties among OTO Development’s holdings range from hotels in major markets such as Manhattan, Chicago and San Diego, to smaller cities like Erie, Penn., and Manchester, Conn. The bulk of the properties — 21 that are currently open with four more in development — are located in California.

No matter the size or location of the property, the mission of the employees is the same. It all comes down to helping people.


“Think about travel today,” Oakes said. “By the time someone gets to us, they’ve had to get up an hour early to start their day. They’ve driven to an airport. They were mugged while waiting to go through TSA. The plane was delayed, the plane was 30 years old and run down, the people working on the plane were surly. Their bags were delayed in being delivered and were wet from sitting on the tarmac. The rental car smelled. And then, they hit traffic.

“By the time they get to us they’ve been through a tough day. So we want to be an oasis of tranquility, a moment of hospitality in a day all-too-often interrupted with stress. If we can provide a brief reprieve, we can do some amazing things.”

Oakes learned the lodging industry during his tenure at Extended Stay America, with Johnson as his mentor. He said that any conversation with Johnson is like attending a graduate school course where he always learns something.

It is a statement Oakes’ team members can now make about him.

“Corry’s leadership is all by example — he works hard but he also works smart, and he is completely engaged not only in our company but also in the overall hospitality industry,” said Lisa Giaimo, VP/Sales & Marketing, explaining that Oakes is president of the AC by Marriott Advisory Council, for example, and serves on the Franchise Advisory Council for Hyatt Place by Hyatt, as well. “I learn something new every time I am around him.”

OTO could have opened its headquarters in a bigger city, somewhere closer to its properties. But the Johnson family’s roots run deep in Spartanburg. This pride of place was inherited by OTO’s executives, many of whom worked with Johnson at ESA, and they’ve found Spartanburg provides a convenient, stimulating environment on both a personal and a professional level.

OTO Development employs more than 2,200 people nationwide — including some 70 at One Morgan Square — and, as properties are continuously in development, that number will balloon to more than 3,000 quickly. Most employees at OTO’s hotels are hired locally; in the company’s headquarters, there is a mix of local talent and others that hail from places such as Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Detroit, even the Middle Eastern country of Qatar.

“Spartanburg is home. We’ve lived other places, but this is always home,” Oakes said. “This community has skilled, hard-working, honest, positive people. We like the cost of living and the quality of life. We like the ability for people to get involved. We tell our team members, ‘Don’t just move to Spartanburg to work here, move to get invested in the community.’ ”