Fort Worth Firm ‘On Hunt’ for Hospitality Properties, Hires Former Crescent Leader

By Seth Bodine, Dallas Business Journal, August 5, 2025

A Fort Worth firm is on the hunt for its first hospitality-focused property acquisition and hired a former Crescent Real Estate executive to help launch the portfolio.

M2G Ventures LLC, a real estate investment and development company that focuses on industrial and mixed-use retail space, is launching a hospitality vertical. The group, founded in 2014 by sisters Jessica Miller Essl and Susan Miller, recently hired Chris Hanrattie as managing director and head of hospitality.

Hanrattie previously was senior vice president of investments and head of hospitality for Fort Worth-based Crescent Real Estate LLC, where he oversaw hospitality investment strategy and led acquisitions and dispositions.

Essl said the expansion into hospitality is a natural fit for the company. M2G has taken on numerous joint venture projects that included hospitality.

“Our mission statement is to inspire evolution through impact and innovation. That means looking at it across asset classes and thinking how they can all play together in the right environment. So anything that you find in a mixed-use environment, including hospitality, retail, etc., we usually find ourselves drawn to.” – Jessica Miller Essl, Co-Founder, M2G Ventures

Essl said Hanrattie’s experience will help the firm expand into the hospitality sphere. Hanrattie has acquired 23 hotels worth more than $2 billion total. He said he will be focusing on properties in the Sun Belt states, including Texas, Georgia and Arizona, which are seeing population growth.

Hanrattie is looking for properties that could benefit from a change of brand, focus or management, with an eye on “soft brands” that have more of a community and neighborhood focus, using the example of Hotel Drover in the Fort Worth Stockyards. In general, people are looking for experiences, he said.

“They want to experience above and beyond just hospitality, staying at a hotel. They want to experience above and beyond just going to retail and obviously doing shopping, but be able to mix those two together, regardless if it’s a full-service hotel, luxury hotel or even something that’s referred to as kind of premium select-serve hotel. Absolutely, I think that’s the wave of the business going forward.” – Chris Hanrattie, Managing Director of Hospitality, M2G Ventures

M2G has acquired 5.1 million square feet and sold $1.6 billion since it was founded. Past projects under the firm’s belt include the Foundry District in Fort Worth, which it sold in 2022 to North Carolina-based Asana Partners. M2G also helped create the 180,000-square-foot Mule Alley portion of the Fort Worth Stockyards, which is home to numerous shops and restaurants.

Soon, a hotel might be added to that list. Essl said they are working on a couple of active deals but didn’t share any more details.

“Whatever that first deal is, we’re pumped about it. We’re not going to tread lightly, and so whatever it is, it’s going to be awesome. We’re on the hunt for that one right now.” – Jessica Miller Essl, Co-Founder, M2G Ventures