Harbor Lights Resort in Islamorada sells for $7M

Oceanfront hotel was built in 1953 and 1970, and has 37 rooms and cottages

Harbor Lights Resort in Islamorada
Harbor Lights Resort in Islamorada

Harbor Lights Resort, a 37-unit oceanfront hotel in Islamorada, just sold for $7 million, The Real Deal has learned.

TWG Overseas, LLC, purchased the property at 84951 Overseas Highway on Windley Key from Holiday Isle Resort & Marina Associates. The buyer is a joint venture linked to Atlanta-based Songy Highroads, led by David Songy and Todd Nocerini; and the Washington, D.C.-based Wardman Group, led by Thad Paul, according to documents.

First National Bank of South Miami provided a $6.8 million mortgage, documents show.

Messages left for Songy, Nocerini and Paul were not immediately returned.

CBRE Hotels’ Paul Weimer, Christian Charre, Natalie Castillo, and Jennifer Jin represented the seller in the deal.

Weimer told TRD the buyers plan to renovate the hotel. Redevelopment is not the immediate plan, he said. “It’s very difficult to find waterfront property on Islamorada,” Weimer said. “They will renovate it and continue operating it as a hotel.”

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Harbor Lights Resort

The 5-acre property in Islamorada was last sold for $1.235 million in 1987, according to Monroe County records. The hotel was built in 1953 and 1970, records show.

Harbor Lights offers beachfront cottages as well as hotel rooms, according to its website. It is less than one mile away from the Holiday Isle Marina. Room rates currently range from $99 per night to $189 per night, according to the front desk operator.

In September, Playa Largo Resort & Spa opened in Key Largo. It marked the first full-service resort to open in Key Largo since 1993. The 144-room resort, at 97450 Overseas Highway, is on the bay side of the Keys.

New projects in the works in Islamorada include an oceanfront eco-resort called Islamorada Ecolodge, and the redevelopment of a 7-acre oceanfront RV park.

Harunobu Coryne contributed reporting.