Casa Hotels buys boutique South Beach hotel for $8M

Hotel will remain closed until it is renovated

Valerio Spinaci and 1506 Collins Avenue (Google Maps)
Valerio Spinaci and 1506 Collins Avenue (Google Maps)

UPDATED, Jan. 29, 8:40 a.m.: Chilean investment firm Casa Hotels Group closed on a boutique hotel in South Beach for $8.1 million.

Casa Hotels, led by CEO Jose Aguera, bought the Eva Hotel, a four-story, 30-key building at 1506 Collins Avenue. The group also owns the Odyssey South Beach, Casa Ocean and Casa Sofi.

Opera Real Estate Investment, led by CEO and attorney Valerio Spinaci and investor Federico Maria Ionta, represented Casa Hotels in the Eva Hotel sale. Roca Gonzalez P.A. handled the closing.

Spinaci said the deal had been in the works for months. The hotel, which is not currently operating, will be renovated and rebranded as a Casa property.

The sale price equates to $270,000 per room.

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Property records show the seller is Lender West LLC. The 21,832-square-foot building sits on an 8,000-square-foot lot. It last sold out of foreclosure for $3 million in 2019, court records show.

The hotel is next to AxelBeach Miami, the first U.S. outpost for Axel Hotels, an LGBTIQ+ oriented hotel group.  AxelBeach is a client of Spinaci.

Hospitality was among the hardest hit sectors last year, and few hotels sold, but some properties are now trading.

Earlier this month, developer Ari Pearl and investor Jonathan Leifer paid $30 million for the Tryp Hotel in Bay Harbor Islands, acquiring the waterfront property out of foreclosure.

In December, the property at 200 to 212 Collins Avenue in Miami Beach sold for $6 million to a buyer that plans to open an upscale boutique apartment-hotel.