Swire sells Brickell City Centre hotel for $174M, and nearby Conrad Miami trades for over $100M

Swire Properties had been marketing 352-key East hotel prior to the pandemic

Kieran Bowers of Swire Properties with East, Miami and Camilo Miguel of Mast Capital with The Conrad (Getty, Facebook via EAST, Miami)
Kieran Bowers of Swire Properties with East, Miami and Camilo Miguel of Mast Capital with The Conrad (Getty, Facebook via EAST, Miami)

Two Brickell hotels sold for more than $100 million each, including the $174 million sale of East, Miami, as hotel investment sales in Miami continue to ramp up.

Hong Kong developer Swire Properties sold the 352-key East, Miami hotel to a joint venture of funds managed by Trinity Fund Advisors and funds managed by Certares Real Estate Management, according to a press release. The 40-story hotel had been marketed for sale prior to the pandemic, sources told The Real Deal.

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East, at 788 Brickell Plaza, is part of Swire’s mixed-use Brickell City Centre development that was completed in 2016. Swire Hotels will continue to manage the property.

It traded for nearly $500,000 per key. A CBRE team that included Paul Weimer and Christian Charre represented Swire in the deal, according to sources. Swire said in a release that the property “attracted numerous competitive offers.”

The company plans to reinvest the proceeds into future developments, which likely include the second phase of Brickell City Centre. In May, Swire sold the remaining 81 condos at Brickell City Centre’s Reach and Rise to a partnership between Shahab Karmely’s KAR Properties and Edgardo Defortuna’s Fortune International Group, for the same purpose.

The East purchase is the first for the joint venture fund between Trinity and Certares.

East was designed by Arquitectonica and has 352 rooms, eight suites and 89 residence suites; the rooftop bar Sugar; restaurants Quinto La Huella and Parador La Huella; 20,000 square feet of event space and outdoor venues; a fitness center; pool and deck.

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In a separate deal, a partnership led by Mast Capital sold the Conrad Miami hotel on Brickell Avenue to Electra America Hospitality Group, a joint venture between Electra America and AKA, according to a release.

The buyers and sellers declined to provide a purchase price for the 201-key hotel, but a source said it exceeded $100 million. It was conferred to Hotel AKA Brickell immediately following the sale and offers short-term and extended-stay accommodations.

Mast Capital acquired the property at 1395 Brickell Avenue with its partner Angelo Gordon in 2017 for just $72 million and later renovated the hotel.

The Conrad is in the Brickell Arch Tower, formerly called the Espirito Santo Plaza, a property that has offices, luxury condos and a retail component. The hotel includes an 11-story atrium, a sky lobby, fitness center and spa, a rooftop pool, and meeting spaces.

The 36-story Brickell high-rise was developed by the Espírito Santo banking family of Portugal in the early 2000s.

The buyer, Electra America Hospitality Group, has purchased one hotel in New York City and another in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, near Washington D.C. The joint venture plans to invest $11 million in additional renovations to the former Conrad, according to the release.

Electra America Hospitality referred to nearby office leasing activity as a factor in its purchase. Microsoft recently confirmed its 50,000-square-foot office lease at the under-construction 830 Brickell tower.