Blueprint: A look back

“It was like private equity had been a decade before, a relatively unsophisticated marketplace full of opportunities for cheap off- market deals.”- Peter Cluff, co-founder and principal of Europa Capital, on the European private equity real estate market in the late 1990s

“REITs are designed to hold property. Private equity is designed to harvest value.”- Robert Stuckey, managing director of The Carlyle Group, discussing his preference for the private equity asset class

“When I looked at various possible investments I became convinced that the best opportunities I saw out there resided right in the hotel industry I'd come from.”- Fred Malek, co-chairman and founder of Thayer Lodging Group, on the rationale for his focus on the hospitality sector

“A lot of property fund and property companies call themselves private equity real estate firms, but all they really do is buy real estate assets. We really do bridge the gap between private equity and real estate.”- Keith Breslauer, managing director and senior partner of Patron Capital

“It's easier to manage [our business] from London… It means I can talk to Asia in the morning, Europe in the middle of the day and the US in the evening.”- David Brush, managing director of DB Real Estate Opportunities Group

“When we see a transaction, it's not a transaction. It's a thought. And it has to be forged into a transaction.”- Tom Darden, founder and chief executive officer of Cherokee Investment Partners, on his approach to investing in brownfields

“We want really good riskadjusted yields and we want to buy assets where people aren't seeing something. [That's] really hard to do.”- Scott Lawlor, founder and chief executive officer of Broadway Real Estate Partners

“Nobody wanted them. I met with several billionaires who asked me what I knew about hotels — ‘You just know about apartments,’ they said. I told them I didn't know anything about apartments either.”- Barry Sternlicht, chairman and chief executive officer of Starwood Capital, on his decision to enter the hospitality business in 1993