Conrad Hotel Sale Generates $320,000 Per Door

MIAMI-The 203-room Conrad Miami Hotel, part of the new, 1.2-million-sf Espirito Santo Plaza in the city’s financial district, has been sold for approximately $65 million.EI American Real Estate Corp., a Florida corporation, paid about $320,197 per room to Estoril Inc., the developer of the hotel and the entire mixed-use building. Conrad Hotels, an affiliate of Hilton Hotels Corp., will remain the manager of the hotel as well as the building’s 116 condominium suite units long term. The hotel opened July 1.It has always been Estoril’s plan to sell the hotel portion of the building, says Bill Ross, president of Estoril. “We’re really not hoteliers,” he says. The company does, however, plan to remain owner of the building’s 300,000 sf of office space. “The plan right from the start was to sell the condominium units (to individuals), to sell the hotel” and to retain ownership of the office space.The hotel “absolutely” drew a lot of interest, Ross says. “It’s a uniquely styled building. That was certainly part of it,” he says. “And the growth rate in South Florida right now is just incredible.”The 250,000-sf hotel includes 30,000 sf of meeting and ballroom space, the sky lobby, restaurants, kitchens, bars, a ground-floor lobby, a recreation center with two tennis courts and a pool on the garage roof. The condo space in the building consists of 200,000 sf. These units are more than 30% sold. The building also has a 450,000-sf garage.”We’re averaging a half-dozen people a day touring the condo units, even though the permanent sales center isn’t opening until later in August,” Ross says. Most of the people interested in the condo units have stayed in the hotel and then considered buying, he adds. Condo owners may live in their units year-round or place them into a rental pool.The office portion of the building is currently 80% leased. “We’re two years ahead of our leasing schedule and are proud of the tremendous diversity of national and international tenants,” Ross says. Among the organizations that have committed to long-term leases are law firms, European banks, consulates and real estate companies. Located in the gateway to Latin America, several of the firms committed to the office space do business with Latin America, he adds.