A partnership between Avra Jain and Dragonfly Investments just picked up a motel in the MiMo District – not too far away from Jain’s Vagabond Hotel.
Property records show Jain’s Gold Dust 7700 LLC paid $6 million for Motel Blu at 7700 Biscayne Boulevard, a two-story, 60-unit building next to the cabaret nightclub Gold Rush. The deal breaks down to about $100,000 per room.
Jain wrote that she and Dragonfly plan to restore and renovate the hotel, bringing back its Gold Dust name. The partners financed the acquisition with a $5.5 million loan from Continental Bank.
Ventura 77 LLC, led by hotelier Orlando Valdes, sold the property. He paid $4.2 million for the motel in 2014. It was built in 1957.
Valdes and his wife Gladys have also owned boutique hotels in Miami Beach. In 2015, the couple sold the Orchid House in Miami Beach for $7.5 million.
Jain has been credited with leading new investment in the MiMo District. Her projects along Biscayne Boulevard include the Stephens International Hotel and South Pacific Motel. She’s also working on projects in Hialeah, Overtown and Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood.
Earlier this year, 13th Floor Investments and Tricera Capital unveiled their plans for Paseo Miami, a mixed-use apartment building featuring 294 units, 27,000 square feet of retail/commercial space and more than 500 parking spaces, at 5700 Biscayne Boulevard.