Invest West Financial Celebrates 35 Years of Real Estate Success.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- - When entrepreneurs Dale Marquis and Sam Battistone went into business together, their idea was to find good investments and grow them. Today, after 35 years and some $1 billion in investments, Invest West Financial is a highly respected commercial real estate and hotel investment firm with holdings throughout the Western United States.

"From the very beginning, we have invested our own funds in our projects, not only because we believed in them but also to demonstrate to our investor partners that we always treat their money and our money the same way," says Dale Marquis, who today runs Invest West with his son, Matt.

The company's first major project, the development of the Santa Barbara Tennis Club in Mission Canyon, began a sports-oriented theme that would see Invest West take ownership positions in Sol Cat Catamaran, the New Orleans (now Utah) Jazz, the WFL California Suns, and the International Track Association. The company also became one of the promoters of motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel's 1976 attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon on his rocket "sky cycle," an unsuccessful effort that nonetheless remains one of the highest rated and most watched televised sporting events of all time.

Although Invest West's business interests were eclectic, including such firms as the Big Yellow House and Dial-A-Horoscope, the company began to focus in the 1970s on commercial real estate investments, including the Spyglass Inn in Pismo Beach, its first hotel investment. Invest West, which always prided itself on choosing good partners for joint ventures, teamed up with Santa Barbara real estate investor Jerry Beaver to develop a collection of small of indoor shops with an open-floor format. Known then as Piccadilly Square, the development is now the site of Paseo Nuevo. The company also developed and built Financial Plaza on State and La Cumbre and various other projects on the West Coast. Additional deals followed, and in the late 1980s and 1990s, Invest West began to accumulate hotel properties. Beaver and Marquis parted ways amicably in 2000, with Marquis and his son Matt focusing on Invest West and its sister firm, Pacifica Hotel Company.

Today, Pacifica Hotel Company owns and operates more than 20 hotels along the California coast. In addition to the scenic Spyglass Inn, the company's original investment, Pacifica's properties include the gracious Carlyle Inn in Beverly Hills, elegant Empress Hotel in La Jolla, and sun-drenched Shelter Pointe Hotel and Marina in San Diego. The company also operates Best Western and Holiday Inn Express properties in carefully selected coastal locations such as Half Moon Bay, Marina del Rey, Venice Beach, Redondo Beach, and San Diego. Every Pacifica property provides abundant guest amenities and is overseen by talented managers who are encouraged and expected to run the hotel as their own business.

"Today the business is very much a family business," says Dale Marquis, President of both Invest West and Pacifica Hotel Company. "We are very active in commercial and retail development in Los Angeles and Orange counties, and in hotel acquisition and development. For example, we recently opened a Hilton Garden Inn in Rancho Bernardo, and our Pacifica Hotel Investors affiliate is partnering with the PGA to develop a Hilton Garden Inn at the national training center in Point Saint Lucie, Florida."

Over the years, Invest West Financial has developed a very large private equity base of high-net worth clients and financial institutions drawn by the company's philosophy of partnering in all deals.

"We are very loyal to our investor partners," says Matt Marquis executive vice president. "We invest alongside them in all of our deals. This investment philosophy has served Invest West Financial very well throughout our history and has offered excellent returns to our investment partners."