Chatham Lodging REIT sets sights on Fort Lauderdale hotel

The Residence Inn Fort Lauderdale Intracoastal/Il Lugano
The Residence Inn Fort Lauderdale Intracoastal/Il Lugano

The Chatham Lodging Trust is picking up two hotels for $55 million, one of which is in Fort Lauderdale, the real estate investment trust announced on Tuesday. 

The REIT is under contract to buy the Residence Inn Fort Lauderdale Intracoastal/Il Lugano, a 105-room hotel at 3333 Northeast 32nd Avenue, and has already purchased the 81-room Residence Inn Boston.

Both hotels were sold by the Claremont Companies, a Massachusetts-based real estate group. The deal breaks down to $298,000 per room. West Palm Beach-based Chatham did not disclose individual prices for the hotels.

Chatham CEO and President Jeffrey H. Fisher

Chatham CEO and President Jeffrey H. Fisher

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“Our outlook on the industry remains bullish, and we continue to find excellent opportunities to add properties that match our strategy of acquiring premium-branded, high-quality, in-fill hotels with high barriers to entry and growing demand in two of the country’s strongest lodging markets,” Chatham CEO and President Jeffrey H. Fisher said in a statement. “The Residence Inn Fort Lauderdale Intracoastal/Il Lugano is an absolute gem of an asset located directly on the Intracoastal Waterway with stunning views in a rapidly growing area of South Florida that we believe will realize outsized growth over the next few years.”

The Residence Inn Fort Lauderdale is a 14-story condo hotel that opened in 2008. At the time, it ran under the name II Lugano Hotel and Residences, but was later converted to its current brand in 2014.

The building has its own 177-space parking garage, a waterfront meeting room, restaurant and waterfront deck. Its condos are independently owned and were not part of the sale.

The Residence Inn Boston, which opened in 1998, underwent a $2 million renovations program that wrapped up in 2011. Chatham said the hotel’s proximity to a bevy of retail and office buildings made it an attractive acquisition. — Sean Stewart-Muniz