HFF closes $57.5M sale of former Seville Beach Hotel in Miami Beach

MIAMI, FL – The Miami office of HFF (Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P.) has closed the sale of the former Seville Beach Hotel (top left photo)  in Miami Beach, Florida.

HFF executive managing director Manny de Zárraga (bottom left  photo), senior managing directors Dan Carlo (top right photo) and Daniel Peek (top left photo) , and director Jaret Turkell  represented the 2901 Beach Ventures, LLLP ownership group, on an exclusive basis.

The venture is a partnership between affiliates of Fortune International and Lionstone Group. An affiliate of Marriott International purchased the site for $57.5 million in cash. Both Fortune and Lionstone have been retained by Marriott on a consulting basis for the new project.

“The sale of the Seville is among the most significant hotel sale transactions of 2010 in the southeast United States. This sale highlights the exceptional confidence held by institutional investors in the Miami Beach hospitality investment sector,” said Peek.

Located along Collins Avenue between 29th and 30th Streets in Miami Beach, the hotel and development sites encompassed nearly 4.5 acres on both the east and west sides of Collins Avenue (bottom right photo).

The property included 350 feet of frontage along the Atlantic Ocean and 100 feet of frontage along Indian Creek Drive.

The east lot is improved with the former Seville Beach Hotel, a 12-story structure that was gutted in anticipation of a redevelopment program. The site has the ability of being developed as a residential or hotel project or any combination thereof.

“Originally built in 1955, the Seville Beach Hotel was for many years a global playground for the rich and famous, and was considered one of the most prestigious hotels in Miami Beach,” said de Zárraga.

“This was a rare opportunity to acquire a historically significant, trophy asset with diverse redevelopment potential.”

“Real estate along South Beach rarely changes hands, with most of the properties considered to be generational assets,” added Carlo. “The sale of a property of the Seville’s prominence is unique.

" In addition, Miami Beach is woefully underrepresented within the major hotel brands. As a result, the Seville was highly attractive to a wide variety of investors, including a number of high-quality brands that could make their mark in Miami Beach and restore the Seville Beach Hotel to its rightful position as a leader in the South Beach lodging market.”

Contacts:

Manuel A. DeZarraga, HFF Executive Managing Director, (305) 448-1333, mdezarraga@hfflp.com
J. Daniel Carlo, HFF Senior Managing, (305) 448-1333, dcarlo@hfflp.com
Daniel C. Peek, Director HFF Senior Managing Director, (305) 448-1333, dpeek@hfflp.com
Kristen M. Murphy, HFF Associate Director, Marketing, (713) 852-3500, kmurphy@hfflp.com

HFF closes sale of 539-unit self storage facility in Houston

HOUSTON, TX – The Houston office of HFF (Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P.)  has closed the sale of Safe-Keeping Self Storage, a 539-unit self storage facility in southeast Houston, Texas.

The HFF investment sales team was led by senior managing director Aaron Swerdlin (middle right photo) and managing director Doug McCarron (middle left photo) who exclusively represented the seller, Weiss Realty, LLC.

A subsidiary of WEDGE Real Estate Holdings purchased the facility for an undisclosed amount.

Safe-Keeping Self Storage is located at 900 West Nasa Parkway close to Interstate 45 in the southeast Houston suburb of Clear Lake. The property has 50,332 square feet.

In addition to the Safe-Keeping transaction, the HFF Self Storage Group has completed several recent property transactions including a 67,923-square-foot facility in Clifton, New Jersey and a 42,313-square-foot facility in Brooklyn, New York.

The group also closed the financing of a three-property portfolio in Houston, in which associate director Colby Mueck and senior managing director Aaron Swerdlin represented the borrower.

WEDGE Real Estate Holdings owns, leases and manages a diversified portfolio of real estate including office buildings, hotels, self storage facilities and parking garages.

Contacts:

Aaron A. Swerdlin, HFF Senior Managing Director, (713) 852-3500, aswerdlin@hfflp.com
Kristen Murphy, HFF Associate Director, Marketing, (713) 852-3500, krmurphy@hfflp.com


Chris Drew joins HFF Miami as an associate director

MIAMI, FL – HFF (Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P.) announced today that it has hired Chris Drew as an associate director in the debt and structured finance capital markets group in its Miami office.

Drew will focus on originating debt and structured finance transactions throughout the southeastern United States. He has more than six years of experience in commercial real estate and most recently worked at Cushman & Wakefield where he was an associate in the capital markets group and prior to that, an associate in the commercial brokerage group.

 Contacts:

Manuel A. De Zarraga, HFF Executive Managing Director, (305) 448-1333, mdezarraga@hfflp.com
Kristen M. Murphy, HFF Associate Director, Marketing, (713) 852-3500,
krmurphy@hfflp.com