Real estate investment firm Hawkins Way Capital sold the Clifton Hotel in South Beach, adding to a slew of recent hospitality sales.
Records show the Los Angeles-based company sold the 35-key, 10,400-square-foot hotel at 1343 Collins Avenue in Miami Beach. The buyer is Jerusalem Group LLC, a Florida entity managed by Omar Limon. Limon is a Miami resident with almost two dozen businesses registered in his name, including the sportswear retailer Just For Sports, according to records.
The sale price of $9 million works out to $266,000 per room.
Gary Hennes Realtors’ Luca Migliore (Gary Hennes Realtors)
Luca Migliore, a broker with the commercial division of Gary Hennes Realtors, represented the buyer. CBRE’s Natalie Castillo and Joshua Beene represented the seller.
The hotel was built in 1948 and designed by architect Gerard Pitt, who designed a number of Art Deco and Post War Modern Revival Miami Beach buildings in the mid-20th century, according to Gary Hennes Realtors.
Hawkins Way Capital bought the hotel for $8.8 million in 2014, property records show. It was renovated in 2010, and the Miami Beach Preservation Board approved plans for a renovation and expansion of the hotel in 2019, shortly before it was listed for sale.
Hawkins Way Capital listed it in tandem with another Collins Avenue boutique hotel, the 22-room Loft Hotel. The investment firm originally listed the pair for a combined $17.1 million, or $300,000 per room. Records show the Loft sold for $6.5 million in June, which equates to $295,500 per key.
The sale of the Clifton follows a trend of hotel sales in South Florida in recent months.
Last month, investor Shadi Shomar and his partners completed the bulk purchase of the Bentley Hotel South Beach, a condo-hotel at 510 Ocean Drive. Companies tied to Russell Galbut’s Crescent Heights sold the property. Shomar said he and his partners are renovating the lobby, restaurant, courtyard and pool and will continue running the Bentley as a hotel.
Also in November, Hightower sold a La Quinta Inn in Palm Beach County to a group of investors for $13 million, and Blackstone sold The Hampton Inn & Suites in Tamarac for $17.8 million.
In September, the Balfour Hotel at 350 and 344 Ocean Drive in South Beach traded for $39.3 million, or about $485,000 per key. And a joint venture bought the 96-key Hilton Garden Inn in Miami Beach for $28 million.