VANA Partners

VANA Partners is an entrepreneurial real estate investment platform founded in 2022, focused on the economy and midscale extended-stay hospitality segment in North America. The firm was co-founded by Dubi and Chuchu Ajukwu, who together bring over 20 years of institutional real estate and investing experience across firms including The Related Companies, Tishman Speyer, Global Infrastructure Partners, Morgan Stanley, and J.P. Morgan. Starwood Capital Group, one of the world's preeminent hospitality investors with approximately $115 billion in assets under management, serves as a strategic investor in the platform. VANA's investment approach is grounded in a high-conviction thesis on the economy extended-stay segment, which sits at the nexus of multifamily and hospitality. These assets function less like traditional hotels and more like furnished workforce housing — serving gig economy workers, project-based contractors, and value-conscious long-term guests — generating stable, recurring demand that is largely insulated from discretionary travel cycles. This resilience was most clearly demonstrated during COVID-19, when economy extended-stay hotels grew RevPAR while the broader lodging sector declined sharply, a divergence that first drew VANA to the segment. The firm pursues opportunities across three complementary strategies — ground-up development, stabilized acquisitions, and value-add conversions — in markets with favorable supply-demand dynamics and durable workforce-driven demand. Across each strategy, VANA applies an institutional underwriting and execution framework, leveraging procurement scale, standardized processes, and deep relationships with brands, operators, and construction partners. This approach allows the firm to compete with discipline and consistency in a segment still dominated by small, non-institutional owners — creating a persistent opportunity to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns for our investors

VANA Partners is an entrepreneurial real estate investment platform focused on the economy and midscale extended-stay hospitality segment in North America. We pursue opportunities across ground-up development, stabilized acquisitions, and value-add conversions in markets with favorable supply-demand dynamics and durable, workforce-driven demand. Economy extended-stay hotels sit at the nexus of multifamily and hospitality — functioning less like traditional hotels and more like furnished workforce housing — generating stable, recurring demand that is largely insulated from discretionary travel cycles. This resilience was most clearly demonstrated during COVID-19, when economy extended-stay hotels grew RevPAR while the broader lodging sector declined sharply. We target attractive stabilized unlevered yields on ground-up development and strong cash-on-cash returns across acquisitions and value-add opportunities, supported by an institutional underwriting and execution framework in a segment still dominated by small, non-institutional owners