History
OTO Development was founded on May 11, 2004, an idea built upon a foundation of successful and principled entrepreneurship. Our predecessor companies — including one that became the largest Blockbuster franchisee and another that turned Extended Stay America* into the fastest-growing owner-operated chain in history — gave us roots.
From these, we’ve grown into a force of our own: one of the great companies in lodging with one of the best-performing select-service portfolios in the country.
After thriving together in previous ventures, Corry Oakes, Todd Turner, and Jim Ovenden lent their initials to name OTO, the hotel development and hospitality management company they launched alongside their long-time colleagues and mentors George Dean Johnson Jr. and H. Wayne Huizenga.
In its earliest days, OTO was a merchant builder of prototypical select-service hotels in the suburbs of growing markets. Fast forward to today, as the company focuses investments on bullseye locations in top-performing submarkets, with a recent emphasis on beachfront leisure properties.
What hasn’t changed within OTO Development is our relentless pursuit of excellence.
We earned our first development award during our first year in business, and we’ve achieved growing industry recognition ever since. OTO has been honored as Developer of the Year by our major brand partners multiple times in addition to receiving accolades recognizing outstanding guest service, marketing and revenue success, operations excellence, and community service.
OTO invests with long-term ownership plans aligned with industry-leading brands. We have a significant hotel management platform used for our own properties as well as on behalf of some of the most sophisticated lodging investors in the world. Most importantly, we’re growing meaningful careers in lodging for 2,500-plus team members.
OTO Development is a part of The Johnson Group, a family of diverse companies united in shared values and committed to extraordinary success.
*ESA Background
Corry Oakes and Todd Turner were the first employees when George Dean Johnson, Jr. created Extended Stay America in 1995. Long-time friend and business partner Wayne Huizenga immediately recognized the opportunity and joined Johnson as the initial investors in a company that became the fastest-growing Owner-Operated chain in lodging history.
Extended Stay America became a public company within 12 months of its founding, opening 475 hotels within 42 states over a nine-year history. The company was sold to Blackstone Group for over $3 billion in May 2004 in what was the largest public-to-private transaction in South Carolina history.
On the very day the deal closed, Johnson, Huizenga, Oakes, Turner, and Ovenden left Extended Stay America to establish OTO Development, with the business plan to develop and manage great select-service hotels with the best brands in the top markets in the United States.
