South Florida’s biggest hotel sales of 2022

It was a good year to be in the hospitality business in South Florida.

After a pandemic-induced nosedive in travel, visitors returned to the region in 2022 in a big way. Tourism jumped 15.3 percent compared to last year, according to Visit Florida. The Greater Miami Visitors Convention & Bureau reported that as of October, Miami-Dade’s year-to-date occupancy rate was 72.2 percent, up from 65.7 percent during the same period of last year.

The industry group’s reported average room rate for the same period was $251, up from $211 in 2021.

Investors took note, and a number of hotel properties traded hands in 2022. Still, none of the prices topped the $270 million sale of the Jimmy Buffet-inspired Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort that ranked as last year’s biggest hotel sale in South Florida.

Leading this year’s top 10 list of sales: Sunstone Hotel Investors’ $232 million purchase of the Confidante Miami Beach. Overall, sales were concentrated in Miami Beach, with a few outliers from Fort Lauderdale, Weston and Palm Beach.

Here are South Florida’s 10 biggest hotel sales of the year, according to data from Colliers International:

$232M | Confidante Miami Beach | Miami Beach 

An affiliate of Hyatt Hotels Corporation sold the Confidante Miami Beach for $232 million to California-based Sunstone Hotel Investors in May. The price came out to $684,366 per room. For its first South Florida investment, Sunstone plans to pump $60 million into a renovation of the 339-room oceanfront hotel at 4041 Collins Avenue. It last sold for $229.4 million in 2016.

$74M | AC Hotels by Marriott Fort Lauderdale Beach | Fort Lauderdale 

The second biggest hotel sale of the year was Utah-based Dynamic City Capital’s $74.3 million February purchase of the 171-key new construction AC Hotels by Marriott. Key International and Wexford Real Estate Investors developed the 10-story hotel on 0.7 acres at 3029 Alhambra Street in Fort Lauderdale that they bought for $9.6 million in 2016. This year’s sale price equated to $434,503 per key.

$50M | Bonaventure Resort & Spa | Weston

In the third biggest hotel sale this year, New York-based Chetrit Group’s hospitality arm and its partner 392 Fifth LLC, managed by Robert Wolf, sold Bonaventure Resort & Spa in Weston for $50 million in April, records show. Lion Gables Realty, a division of multifamily developer Gables Residential, bought the property with plans to demolish the 501-room hotel and build an apartment complex, according to the South Florida Business Journal. The price equated to $99,800 per room. Chetrit and Wolf had paid $67.5 million for the hotel at 250 Racquet Club in 2012.

$44M | Hampton by Hilton Inn Miami Beach – Mid Beach | Miami Beach 

Pebb Capital and LendLease sold this renovated historic hotel for $43.9 million in June to Spot On Ventures, a hospitality-focused firm headquartered in Boston. The joint venture paid $23.6 million for the property in 2016, and invested $25 million in a renovation of the 100-key hotel at 4000 Collins Avenue. Spot On financed the purchase with a $32 million loan from VMC Master Lender Upper REIT LLC. The per-door price worked out to $439,000.

$42M | Chesterfield Hotel | Palm Beach 

The British billionaire brothers David and Simon Reuben bought Palm Beach’s historic Chesterfield Hotel for $42 million in May. The brothers’ private equity firm purchased the 53-room hotel for $792,453 per room, marking the highest per-key price of any hotel sale in South Florida this year. They bought the boutique hotel at 363 Cocoanut Row from a company led by Richard Laudner, who paid $6.5 million for it in 2011.

$39M | The Balfour Hotel | Miami Beach 

After the pandemic dragged the Lord Balfour hotel into a spiral of debt and foreclosure, the Canadian investment firm Catalyst Capital Group scooped up the 81-key hotel for $39.3 million and rebranded it to the Balfour Hotel in September. It sold for $484,568 per room. The UK-based private equity firm Henley bought the hotel at 350 and 344 Ocean Drive in Miami Beach for $34.8 million in 2019, and partnered with hotel startup Life House. Henley completed a renovation of the hotel just as the pandemic tanked the hospitality industry, putting it in hot water with mezzanine lenders Moto Capital and Leste Group. Moto Capital controlled the entity that ultimately sold the hotel.

$35M | Kimpton Goodland Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort | Fort Lauderdale 

DiamondRock Hospitality, a Bethesda, Maryland-based national hospitality investment group bought the Kimpton Goodland Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale hotel for $35.3 million in April, Hotel News Resource reported. The price equated to $367,708 per door. Seller Banyan Investment Group had paid $23 million for the 96-key hotel at 2900 Riomar Street in December 2020.

$33M | Red South Beach Hotel | Miami Beach 

A joint venture between Tom Assouline’s Assouline Capital and Busch Real Estate, led by the Busch beer family, bought the 110-room Red South Beach Hotel for $33 million in September. The partnership paid $300,000 per room for the hotel at 3010 Collins Avenue, financing the purchase with a $31 million loan from MSD Partners. French developer Simon Nemni managed the selling entity, an LLC named for the address. Nemni had paid $9 million for the hotel in 2009.

$31M | Urbanica Meridian Hotel | Miami Beach 

Cambridge Lansdowne, a South Miami-based real estate investment firm, bought the 70-key Urbanica Meridian Hotel for $30.5 million, or $435,714 per room in April. Urbanica Hotels had purchased the historic Art Deco property at 418-420 Meridian Avenue for $5.5 million in 2013, and completed a 16,700-square-foot addition a few years later.

$28M | Hilton Garden Inn Miami South Beach | Miami Beach 

A joint venture between the Montford Group and Opterra Capital, led by Sunju Patel and Glenn Alba, respectively, bought the HIlton Garden Inn Miami South Beach for $28 million in September. Baywood Hotels had purchased the 96-room hotel at 2940 Collins Avenue for $12.5 million in 2013. The historic hotel was built in 1935. Montford and Opterra paid $291,667 per room for the recently renovated property.