Dual-brand Lauderdale hotel on track for ’17 opening

The 18-month construction of a dual-brand Tribute Portfolio-Element hotel in Fort Lauderdale is scheduled to start next month.

In July, Philadelphia-based Wurzak Hotel Group and Starwood Hotels & Resorts announced the Fort Lauderdale hotel development at 299 North Federal Highway, the former site of a funeral home.

Jake Wurzak, principal and development director of Wurzak Group, said he expects the Tribute Portfolio-Element hotel to open in the summer of 2017 after 18 months of construction.

Wurzak also told the Sun-Sentinel the dual-brand hotel will have a rooftop lounge, a ground-floor café, retail stores and meeting space.

Hotels with dual brands have started to pop up elsewhere in South Florida, too. For example, a hotel complex in Doral bears the brands of Aloft and Element.

Operational costs can be lower if two hotel properties share restaurants, meeting rooms and pool areas at the same location.

In some cases, the same hotel company puts two branded properties in the same building or in separate buildings next to each other. The Hyatt House and Hyatt Place co-exist at a common location in Dania Beach, for example. [Sun-Sentinel]  — Mike Seemuth