NP International buys Gables land for Paseo de la Riviera: $44M

NP International just paid $44 million for the land it needs to build Paseo de la Riviera, a planned $172 million mixed-use project in Coral Gables.

County records show the developer bought the aging Holiday Inn at 1350 South Dixie Highway in a deal that closed late last week. Included in the sale was the 155-room hotel, and more importantly, roughly 2.66 acres of land. The developer financed its deal with a $21.5 million loan from TotalBank.

The seller is an affiliate of InterAmerican Hotels Corp., the parent company behind Miami-based Sound Hospitality Management. The purchase price breaks down to just under $380 per square foot of land.

NP International, headed by Brent Reynolds, won approvals for its project from city commissioners in December — albeit at a smaller scale than what was originally planned. The development firm wants to build a Mediterranean-style complex with a public plaza and two separate buildings for apartments and a hotel.

The apartment building will have 224 units ranging in size from one to three bedrooms, and the hotel will have 252 rooms.

This land closing marks a solid step forward for the project, which has been mired by public controversy for months. Prior to the city commission’s vote of approval, Gables residents protested the project in hopes of blocking future development in their neighborhood. The commission also battled NP International over the project’s proposed heights, finally settling — a week after Reynolds told officials he’d quit the project if any further delays popped up.