FT. LAUDERDALE, FL-Ocean Point Hotel has traded for $8.55 million. The hotel sits on about two and a half acres of oceanfront property with more than 500 linear feet of beachfront in Pompano Beach.
Bethesda, MD-based upscale hotel developer-operator Urgo Hotels purchased the asset and announced plans for a major renovation. The acquisition of Ocean Point Hotel marks Urgo’s ninth hotel purchase in the past 13 months. The company now owns or operates 26 hotels in the U.S. and Canada.
Kevin Urgo, senior vice president of Urgo Hotels, says the property has outstanding potential. “This will be a custom-designed, upscale boutique hotel when completed operating under a premium brand,” he says. “We have considerable experience in the Florida market and look forward to creating a jewel of a hotel for the Pompano Beach market.”
In June, Urgo plans to close the nine-story hotel carry out a six-month renovation program that will essentially transform the property into a brand new hotel. Urgo did not reveal the amount of its investment, but the company currently is reviewing options to convert the hotel to a major, premium full-service or select-service brand. The hotel will reopen under the new flag in the fourth quarter of 2011 in time for the high season.
Part of the plan includes adding 114 rooms and 3,000 square feet of indoor function/meeting space, along with 2,000-plus square feet of outdoor function space, a health club, large outdoor pool and a spacious lobby that opens to landscaped outdoor terraces, overlooking the pool and the Atlantic Ocean. The company said it is currently is in negotiations with a restaurateur to operate an upscale, separately branded tiki bar and true beachfront indoor/outdoor restaurant.
“I haven’t seen too many hotel transactions on the west coast yet, but southeast Florida seems to be a hot market,” says Jim Soble, an attorney at Ruden McCloskey who handles hotel transactions. “I’ve seen a number of transactions on the east coast lately. Buyers have available cash and the economy has pushed the price of the hotels down to where they are an attractive buy. Any product with a prime location and an attractive price is a good prospect for a buyer with cash.”
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
