New bidder emerges in Palm House Hotel sale

A new bidder has emerged in the planned sale of the Palm House Hotel.

A buyer tied to London + Regional Properties is offering $39.6 million for the unfinished condo-hotel property in Palm Beach, according to the Palm Beach Daily News. The bid surpasses the $32 million previously offered by Related Companies. The deal could be approved as soon as March 8, according to the publication.

London + Regional Properties is a private real estate investment firm based in London with almost $12 billion in assets. The company owns the 453-room, London Hilton hotel on Park Lane in London’s Mayfair neighborhood. It is also an investor in the Panama Pacifico, a mixed-use development on the banks of the Panama Canal.

The news comes after a federal bankruptcy judge last week ruled against Wellington developer Glenn Straub’s no-cash bid to buy the unfinished Palm House Hotel. Straub was trying to submit a “credit bid,” which would allow him to make an offer without putting down any cash for the Palm Beach condo-hotel project at 160 Royal Palm Way, according to the Daily News.

Related could still submit an offer of at least $40.6 million to attempt to buy the Palm House property.

Some of the proceeds of the sale would go to paying EB-5 investors who invested $500,000 in the project in order to get a green card. The investors have not seen a return of their investment in the project.

Federal officials have charged the former developer of the Palm House, Robert Matthews, with multiple counts of wire and bank fraud and money laundering over the development.
[Palm Beach Daily News]  — Keith Larsen