Lowe Enterprises

Lowe Enterprises is a real estate investment firm based in Los Angeles. Since its founding, the company has acquired, constructed, or managed more than $21 billion in real estate assets. Its subsidiary, Destination Hotels & Resorts, was the third largest hospitality management company in the United States in 2013.

Lowe Enterprises was founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1972 by Robert J. Lowe, Sr., and three business partners as a real estate investment and development firm. It developed or managed $6.7 billion in assets by 2000: $1 billion in hotels, $3 billion in new real estate development, and $2.7 billion in real estate investments. In the 1980s, the company branched out into "distressed properties", ones whose financial backers were having trouble meeting debt and operating payments. By 2009, the company had expanded into managing properties for wealthy investors and corporations, and its Lowe Enterprises Investors subsidiary had more than $4 billion in assets under management. Overall, Lowe Enterprises had about 7,000 employees nationwide that same year. Lowe's sons, Robert Lowe, Jr. and Michael Lowe, joined the firm and today hold high corporate positions in it.

The company suffered financially during the Great Recession of 2008 to 2012. It ceased payments on debt for its Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, and for its Sheraton Hotel in Universal City, California.

In July 2010, Guardian Life Insurance Company of America took a "substantial" but non-controlling interest in Lowe Enterprises Investors. The insurance company also agreed to provide Lowe Enterprises with $200 million for investment purposes. Lowe's said it would seek to purchase or invest in distressed or undervalued properties in the hotel, industrial, office, and retail sectors.

By 2012, Lowe Enterprises had developed or managed more than $17.5 billion in assets, and had more than 9,000 employees. The company also had 38 partners, employees who had risen through the ranks and become financial investors in the company. This was up from 32 partners in 2000.