When the Claremont Companies sold a Fort Lauderdale hotel in August for nearly $34 million, the firm held onto one thing: an ultra-modern, top-floor penthouse.
That same residence has now been listed for a flat $5 million.
The penthouse sits on the top floor of the Residence Inn Fort Lauderdale Intracoastal/II Lugano, a 105-room hotel with 23 private residences. It’s located at 3333 Northeast 32nd Avenue on a waterfront lot overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway.
Dan Teixeira, the penthouse’s listing agent and a Realtor with Douglas Elliman, told The Real Deal that 22 of the 23 residences in that tower had been sold to private owners by the time Claremont stepped in.
Claremont Companies purchased the hotel, along with that unit, for a combined $21.5 million mid-year 2014. The real estate firm, which is based in Massachusetts, rebranded the hotel under Marriott the same year.
Dan Teixeira of Douglas Elliman
The roughly 7,500-square-foot penthouse was still raw when it was signed over to Claremont. So the firm’s CEO Patrick Carney made it a pet project to build it out, Teixeira said.
“It was actually a shell; it was never built out,” he said. “Now it’s really spectacular.”
He brought in designer Michael Beamish to give unit 1501 a complete facelift: its features include white glass floors throughout the residence, an expansive kitchen with modern appliances, recessed lighting and chandeliers, plus a 2,500-square-foot balcony that provides 180-degree views of the Intracoastal.
Its asking price breaks down to $667 per square foot, not including the balcony space.
“You get a lot more value for your money when you’re on the Intracoastal,” Teixeira said.
Claremont sold off the hotel portion of the building in August for a whopping $33.5 million. The buyer was Chatham Lodging Trust, a REIT that specializes in acquiring hospitality properties.
That doesn’t mean the firm is out of the game in South Florida, though: a month after closing the Fort Lauderdale deal, Claremont paid nearly $25 million for a Marriott-branded hotel in Pompano Beach.
Of course, a listing for an ultra-modern unit wouldn’t be complete without some drone footage. Embedded below is a compilation of footage from a drone flying both around the hotel and inside the penthouse.