Foreclosed 144-Unit Lake Cecile Resort Sells for $4.7M

ORLANDO-REH Capital Partners LLC is starting the new year with a strategic hospitality acquisition. The Fort Lauderdale, FL-based investor group purchased the 10-acre Lake Cecile Suites and Resort, a 15-year-old, 144-unit, foreclosed-on property from an undisclosed Arizona-based lender for $4.7 million or about $32,639 per unit. The building is located minutes from Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando at State Road 535 and U.S. 192, one of the most active commercial development hubs in Central Florida.

The price “represents a deep discount from pre-9-11 marketing pricing and is about a 60% discount to full replacement cost,” REH chairman Frank Nardozza says in a prepared statement. Occupancy at closing was 94%.

Nardozza’s observation is borne out by Orlando area construction industry estimators who tell GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity that hard construction costs of new hotels range from $100,000 to $200,000-plus per unit. The resort was initially developed in 1987 as a Marriott Residence Inn.