Miami – HFF announced today that it has closed the sale of the Ritz-Carlton Fort Lauderdale, a 166-room, luxury beachfront hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
HFF marketed the property on behalf of the seller. An affiliate of Miami-based Gencom purchased the property. Ritz-Carlton will remain as manager of the property.
Completed in 2007 as a St. Regis-branded property, the hotel was converted in 2008 to the Ritz-Carlton and features 166 rooms and suites plus 28 third-party owned condo-hotel units that participate in the resort’s rental program. Resort amenities include four food and beverage outlets with gourmet dining, a seventh-floor pool deck with private cabanas, more than 24,000 square feet of meeting facilities, an 8,500-square-foot spa, 24-hour business center and valet parking service. The Ritz-Carlton Fort Lauderdale is located on the beachfront at 1 North Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard proximate to Las Olas Boulevard and close to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Port Everglades. The property is the only AAA Five Diamond-rated hotel in Broward County.
The HFF investment sales team representing the seller was led by senior managing director Daniel C. Peek, executive managing director Manny de Zárraga, directors Max Comess and Paul Hsu and analyst Chris Lingerfelt.
“The trade of the Ritz-Carlton Fort Lauderdale provides further evidence of the recovery of the luxury lodging segment and increased investor appetite for high-quality oceanfront resorts,” commented Daniel C. Peek, head of the hospitality practice at HFF. “This was an extremely complicated transaction and we congratulate all of the many stakeholders involved.”
According to Smith Travel Research data, the luxury lodging segment led the hospitality industry in the second quarter with 4.6 percent growth in average daily rates and 6 percent growth in revenue per occupied room compared to the same period in 2012.
“As unquestionably the top luxury property in Broward County, the Ritz-Carlton benefits from Fort Lauderdale’s strong visitation due to expansions at Fort Lauderdale International Airport and Port Everglades, as well as tourism initiatives sponsored by the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau,” added Max Comess, a director in HFF’s Miami office. “In particular, we were impressed with the strong turnout of international investors who would consider a major acquisition in Fort Lauderdale, rather than their traditional focus on Miami exclusively.”
HFF’s hotel group announced the sale of the historic Haddon Hall Hotel in Miami Beach earlier this week. Some of the firm’s previous transactions in the Fort Lauderdale market include the sale of the ground lease at the Marriott Harbor Beach Resort and Spa and the financing of both the Sheraton and Westin hotels on Fort Lauderdale Beach.
HFF (Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P.) and HFFS (HFF Securities L.P.) are owned by HFF, Inc. (NYSE: HF). HFF operates out of 21 offices nationwide and is a leading provider of commercial real estate and capital markets services to the U.S. commercial real estate industry. HFF together with its affiliate HFFS offer clients a fully integrated national capital markets platform including debt placement, investment sales, equity placement, advisory services, loan sales and commercial loan servicing.