Broward determines cost of seizing Hilton Fort Lauderdale Airport hotel

Broward County will likely have to pay more than twice what it anticipated to sieze the land under the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Airport hotel to make room for an expanded runway at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Unless the owners hold out for even more.

The South Florida Business Journal reported Broward County Property Appraiser valued the eight-story, 388-room Hilton at $20.4 million, but two appraisers given the authority to determine the fair market value of the asset approximated the hotel’s worth to be $52.1 million and $43.6 million.

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An affiliate of Blackstone Real Estate Investors purchased the hotel, at 1870 Griffin Road, in 2004 for $25.9 million and renovated it in 2006, even though plans for a runway were widely discussed by that time, the Journal said.

Still, the hotel’s share of a mortgage-backed security taken out by the owners is $83.3 million, meaning they’ll likely try to hold out for money. [SFBJ]