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Berkadia snags a top CBRE South Florida hotel broker team 

Christian Charre, Paul Weimer and Natalie Castillo led CBRE deals for more than a decade

Berkadia Snags Top South Florida Hotel Team
Berkadia's Paul Weimer, Natalie Castillo and Christian Charre (Berkadia)

A top South Florida hotel broker team defected from CBRE to Berkadia, after more than a decade with the commercial real estate firm.

Christian Charre, Paul Weimer and Natalie Castillo joined Berkadia’s Miami-based Hotels & Hospitality group, according to a press release. So far this year, the group has closed more than $600 million in hotel deals, including the $164.5 million sale of Miami Beach’s Nautilus Hotel in June, Weimer confirmed.

Among the team’s other recent deals is Perry Hotel & Marina Key West, which sold for $67 million in April. The team also brokered the $30.5 million sale of the Urbanica Meridian Hotel in Miami Beach last year.  

The team has worked with CBRE since 2012. In their new roles, Charre and Weimer’s titles are senior managing director and Castillo’s title is managing director, according to the release. The team, which has specialized in Florida, Caribbean and Latin American hotels and resorts, will expand further across the Southeast with Berkadia.

“The natural progression for us is deeper into the Southeast,” Weimer said. 

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Continued migration to Florida and the rest of the Sun Belt has caught the attention of investors, and despite a less than friendly lending market, interest in buying hotels is high, he said.

“We have a big pipeline,” he said. “We’re lucky to be very busy.”

New York-based Berkadia’s plan to expand its investment sales, particularly with hotels, caught the team’s eye, according to Weimer. The firm’s recent hire of Andy Wimsatt to head hotels and hospitality made the move particularly appealing. 

“That clearly showed us that they’re very serious about growing an institutional hotel platform,” Weimer said. “We were looking for a new challenge. The idea of being able to grow something was very appealing.”

Weimer said the team also likes Berkadia’s strategy for the market, noting that the firm’s reputation with multifamily investment sales bodes well for expanding its hotel division. Owners of multifamily projects typically also invest in hotels, according to Weimer. 

“CBRE wants to be everything to everybody,” he said. “This is a more focused, careful approach.”

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BerkadiaBrokeragesCBREcommercial brokeragesHospitalityHotels