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DiamondRock Hospitality Co. has tapped Mark Brugger to become CEO, effective September 1, 2008, it has reported. Bill McCarten, DiamondRock’s current chairman & CEO, will continue in his role as chairman. In addition, Brugger has been appointed to the board, expanding it from 6 to 7 members. “I’m especially pleased that Mark will continue to receive sound advice from the same team that has driven its success,” McCarten said in a statement. “In particular, John Williams will continue to lead our acquisition and asset management activities as president & COO and will continue to serve on our board of directors.”…

Penn National Gaming Inc. has secured an 18-month option on 36 acres in Perryville, Md., where it hopes to set up a slots casino and entertainment center. The price of the land was not released, but company officials said they would invest about $125 million in the project. The land is part of an approximately 150-acre site in Cecil County, Md., where Stewart Associates is planning a mixed-use development with retail, a hotel and a visitors’ center. The 36-acre parcel, owned by Principio Iron Co., is located along Interstate-95 and borders Pennsylvania and Delaware along the Chesapeake Bay. Penn National…

Maguire Properties, under new management in recent months and pursuing a plan to reduce the debt it incurred by bulking up on SoCal office space in recent years, is selling off Main Plaza Towers in Irvine, Calif. All together, the company expects the four-building, 607,000-square-foot complex to fetch $211 million. The buyer is another California property landlord, San Francisco-based Shorenstein Properties L.L.C. The deal includes nearly $10 million of cash reserves and the assumption of about $161 million of financing, and is expected to close in the third quarter of this year. The properties represent Shorenstein’s first foray into Orange…

The U.S. Army’s plan for developing and renovating hotels at 12 installations as part of its Privatization of Army Lodging program has just advanced to the next stage now that it has entered into a transition agreement with Actus Lend Lease. With the pact in place, Actus can proceed with the program’s first phase, which has an initial development budget of $400 million. Under the PAL program, the Army can privatize hotels at its installations, thereby allowing the military to doll out to companies the tasks of developing and operating lodging facilities for use by soldiers, families and government employees…

Aptech Computer Systems demonstrated the newest version of its Business Intelligence Execuvue at the HITEC 2008 conference, held this June in Austin, Tex. Pittsburgh-based Aptech’s Business Execuvue is now used by many hotel companies, including Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Extended Stay Hotels, Innkeepers Hospitality, Ashford Hospitality Trust and Peabody Hotel Group. The new version provides for flexible analysis and reporting solutions in the hospitality industry. The platform is web-based, making for easier maintenance and access. Getting information might not be difficult in today’s fast-paced market, but information overload makes it challenging to decipher the data and decide what you need…

MicroMain Corp. has launched new Blackberry maintenance software, it reported in May. The software lets workers more conveniently transmit communications to respond to and update work orders in real-time. In addition, all of the data can be managed by log-ins, which permits administrators to monitor the information. “Managers in the commercial real estate industry will be able to leverage workforce resources more effectively . In addition to easily transmitting work orders to maintenance technicians [who are] using Blackberries, managers can also track the workflow in real-time on their own Blackberries. This enables them to make better decisions throughout the day,”…

Sentinel Real Estate Corp. has chosen Irvine, Calif.-based Sendio Corp’s ICE Box for email protection, it has announced. I.C.E. Box is a stand-alone email security appliance that authenticates monitors and controls both incoming and outgoing email messages. NewYork-based Sentinel, which manages a $5 billion portfolio of 156 properties in 29 states for pension funds and other institutional investors, has more than 1000 employees. Sendio, a privately- held company founded in 2004, develops email products particularly designed to help the growing number of companies who rely on email as a key instrument to conduct business. Emile Rashkovich, Sentinel’s senior vice president…

CB Richard Ellis Inc. has signed on with Ariba software and services, it has been announced. The firm has licensed the entire suite of Ariba’s On-Demand Spend Management Solutions. The Suite includes four main product solutions: Ariba’s Spend Visibility, Sourcing, Procure-to-Pay, and Contract Management programs. The Spend Visibility helps a business to gain a clear view into spending needs and habits, spotting areas for more cost saving. Ariba Sourcing negotiates prices. Procure-to-Pay is a software management solution that reorganizes orders, invoice and payments, and The Ariba Contract Management manages compliance worldwide. Hari Candadai, director of solutions marketing told CPN, “Now…

Grubb & Ellis Healthcare REIT Inc. has acquired eight properties in three separate deals.First up is the acquisition of Renaissance Medical Centre, a five-story, Class A medical office building located in the Salt Lake City suburb of Bountiful, Utah. Located at 1551 S. Renaissance Drive, Renaissance Medical Centre consists of approximately 112,000 square feet of gross leaseable area. The property is part of the larger Renaissance Towne Centre mixed-use development and is approximately 88 percent leased. The Renaissance Medical Centre was acquired from an unaffiliated third party represented by Chris Bodnar of CB Richard Ellis-Colorado Private Client Group. In another…

The Philadelphia-based Reinvestment Fund has launched its online mapping tool called PolicyMap, according to the non-profit community development fund. This online mapping site, now open to the public, makes available a wide array of data sets, many of which were formerly available only to researchers. PolicyMap was originally created for the investors, state and local governments, clients and foundations, to provide online and updated information about their investments and loans. The tool will be helpful to city planners, real estate brokers, builders, commercial property owners and investors. It contains more than 4,000 indicators and it continues to be updated. Maggie…