Historic South Beach apartment-hotel trades for $13M

After nearly three decades of ownership, Rod Eisenberg has sold his historic Sadigo Court hotel in South Beach for $12.975 million.

The deal was announced Monday by Joe Thomas of brokerage firm Marcus & Millichap, who represented both Eisenberg and the Blue Road, the buyer.

Blue Road is a a development company based in Bay Harbour Islands that specializes in boutique hotels and residential projects. Some of its projects include the renovations of the Waldorf and Berkeley hotels in South Beach.

The Sadigo Court is a 30-room hotel that was built in 1936 at 334 20th Street in Miami Beach’s Collins Park neighborhood. It operates as an apartment-hotel where units in the building are serviced with short-lease terms at a minimum of 31 days.

Eisenberg bought the hotel through his Eisenberg Development Corp. for a mere $750,000, or $25,000 per room, in 1988, records show.

His 28 years of ownership were not without controversy: In 2011, Miami Beach police broke up an art show Eisenberg hosted at his hotel because of alleged fire safety violations. He was arrested and later claimed the citation was the city retaliating against him for a 1993 statement he made that Miami Beach’s real estate bid-selection process was corrupt, according to a report in Courthouse News Services.

Last year, Eisenberg hired Marcus & Millichap to market his 30-room home for sale, but Thomas told The Real Deal that the listing expired before a deal could be reached. A buyer with whom they had been in talks resurfaced, and the sale closed last week.

The buyer, whom Thomas declined to name, plans on renovating the hotel and adding at least 20 more rooms, Thomas said. The Sadigo’s 18,750-square-foot lot has room on its southern side for an addition, though the buyer’s plans are not yet solidified.

Because the building is historic, its facades have to remain intact, though the interiors are fair game as long as the owner falls within the preservation board’s guidelines.