Blue Ocean hotel sells for $2.5M


The Blue Ocean hotel and Susan Gale of the Susan Gale Group

The Blue Ocean hotel in South Beach has been sold for $2.5 million. The 8,400-square-foot hotel was originally built in 1941 and underwent a series of renovations in the last 10 years. The sale of the 29-room property represented an average price of $86,206 per room.

The two-story hotel, which is located at 334 Ocean Drive, between 3rd and 4th streets, was originally listed for $7 million.

The buyer was Hilma, a limited liability corporation based in Mexico City, according to Susan Gale of the Susan Gale Group, who was the only broker in the deal.

“They’ve been looking at it for about a year,” she said. “They’re ultimately going to completely gut-renovate it and turn it into something fabulous.”

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The seller was Blue Ocean Corp., which has Maria Marando listed as its registered agent, according to the Florida Division of Corporations. The Mirando family has owned the hotel for a number of years, Gale said.

South Beach has seen a trend of hoteliers renovating small, boutique properties, especially near the South of Fifth neighborhood.

For example, The Fashionhaus Hotel opened on Washington Avenue in January following the debut of the Sense Hotel and the refurbished Villa Italia, which also opened in January after a lengthy renovation.

In addition, restaurateur Myles Chefetz of Prime 112 and Prime Italian opened the Prime Hotel last year. The Prime, Villa Italia and Sense were all designed by Italian architect Luigi Vitalini.

Two other small hotels, the Dream South Beach and the Hotel Breakwater, are slated to open soon in the area.