May 5--Fifteen months ago, the Hersha Group of Companies celebrated the opening of its Harrisburg headquarters.

On Monday, one of those Hersha entities takes another major step when it begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Hersha Hospitality Trust, a real estate investment trust that concentrates on hotel properties in the Northeast, will shift from the American Stock Exchange, its home since its initial public offering in 1999.

The Hersha Group is a venture that started with a Shipoke hotel in the mid-1980s.

"We've very excited about it," CEO Jay H. Shah said of the shift.

He said the NYSE listing offers three significant advantages:

--It sends a "very strong signal" about the company's near- and mid-term growth plans.

--It shows the company can meet the stringent listing requirements of the stock exchange and is evidence of its strong corporate governance practices.

--The listing will generate more liquidity for the buying and selling of the stock.

Analyst David Loeb of Robert W. Baird & Co., who has an "outperform" rating of the stock, said Hersha has an opportunity to demonstrate better overall growth than the market expects.

He said the reasons for this are Hersha's holdings in mid-scale hotels that might not be affected as much in any economic downturn, and the company's exposure in markets such as New York City, where demand for rooms is still strong.

"We're in some of the most densely populated and developed markets," Shah said. He said some of those markets, particularly New York City, are benefiting from international travelers drawn to the U.S. by the cheap dollar.

"Hotel performance has been encouraging, from what we have seen," Shah said.

Hersha, named after Shah's mother, has 73 hotels, most of them in the northeastern U.S. and some in West Coast markets.

Loeb said the economy is affecting the hotel industry with reduced business travel and a trade-down of hotel lodging amenities. But, he said, Hersha can weather those trends.

In a recent research report, he viewed Hersha's assets as "leading the public market REITs in internal growth based on favorable market exposure and a young and ramping portfolio of hotels."

Loeb does not own the stock, and his firm and its affiliates have received compensation from Hersha in the past 12 months and intends to seek compensation in the future.

Shah said the company was invited to ring the bell at the NYSE on Monday on the first day of trading. However, he said, the company had to decline, citing a busy week that includes the release of first-quarter results on Monday.

He said the bell-ringing ceremony will come in about a month and a half. By then, he said, the company should show some benefits from its NYSE listing.

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