Fort Partners buys Four Seasons Brickell hotel for $130M

221-key hotel will undergo renovations

Nadim Ashi of Fort Partners with the hotel (Four Seasons, Fort)
Nadim Ashi of Fort Partners with the hotel (Four Seasons, Fort)

The developer of the ultra-luxury Four Seasons at the Surf Club in Surfside acquired the Four Seasons Miami hotel in Brickell for about $130 million, The Real Deal has learned.

The acquisition gives Fort Partners control of all four Four Seasons properties in South Florida, including in Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale. The 221-key hotel at 1435 Brickell Avenue in Miami is part of the 70-story mixed-use tower that also includes office space, residential condos, an Equinox gym, retail space and a parking garage.

The sale price equates to about $588,000 per room.

Miami-based Fort Partners financed the purchase with a $105 million loan from New York-based Madison Realty Capital, according to a press release. Madison declined to provide a purchase price, but sources said the property traded for about $130 million.

Fort Partners, led by Nadim Ashi, plans to renovate the hotel, according to the release. Josh Zegen, managing principal and co-founder of Madison said in a statement that Fort plans to modernize the hotel’s rooms, pool deck and lobby, and food and beverage options.

Ashi did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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JLL’s Jim Dockerty, Kevin Davis and Mark Fisher represented Fort Partners in the deal.

Westbrook Partners, based in New York, acquired the Brickell hotel more than a decade ago as part of a three-hotel deal with Millennium Partners, paying $40 million to eliminate debt on the Miami property, according to the Wall Street Journal. Westbrook sold the hotel to Fort Partners.

Millennium Partners completed the tower in 2003, then the tallest skyscraper in Miami. The hotel’s restaurants include Edge Steak & Bar.

Madison, a private equity firm, has lent to Fort Partners in the past. In 2019, it provided a $210 million construction loan to the developer for the Fort Seasons Hotel and Residences in Fort Lauderdale.

Hotel sales, which had nearly come to a halt last year, have started to pick up again. Last month, Pebblebrook Hotel Trust announced it is buying the Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort for $270 million.
Also in June, a joint venture of the Allen Morris Company, Stormont Hospitality and Black Salmon bought a hotel in Miami Beach for $25.5 million. And in Miami’s Edgewater, TPG Real Estate Partners bought two adjacent hotels for $61 million.