Wheelock Street Capital is accepting bids for a 208-key hotel along West Palm Beach’s waterfront, starting at $1 million per room.
Greenwich, Connecticut-based Wheelock recently put The Ben West Palm Beach at 251 North Narcissus Avenue on the market with an asking price of $208 million, according to an online listing. CBRE is marketing the property. The hotel is operated by Marriott’s Autograph Collection.
Wheelock managing partners Rick Kleeman and Jonathan Paul did not respond to a request for comment. The company is seeking nearly double their previous purchase price when Wheelock paid $106.4 million, or $511,000 per key, for it in 2021, records show.
Completed in 2020, The Ben West Palm Beach sits on half-acre within Flagler Banyan Square, a nearly 10-acre mixed-use project. Raleigh, North Carolina-based Concord Hospitality developed the hotel and sold it to Wheelock.
The hotel has two restaurants, including the rooftop Italian eatery, Spruzzo.
South Florida is experiencing a flurry of nine-figure hotel trades this year, particularly in Palm Beach County. In August, billionaire and Oracle software company co-founder Larry Ellison dropped $277.3 million for Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa, a 310-key property in the exclusive town of Manalapan. The deal broke down to $894,811 per room.
London-based Henderson Park is under contract to purchase PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens for $425 million, according to published reports. The firm would be paying $1.2 million per key for the 350-room hotel that also features six championship golf courses, 60,000 square feet of event space, a 40,000-square-foot spa and a 35,000 square-foot fitness center.
Other institutional investors from the United Kingdom are jumping into South Florida’s hospitality market.
British billionaires Simon and David Reuben are negotiating a deal to purchase a majority stake in the W South Beach hotel in Miami Beach for more than $400 million. The siblings would be recapitalizing the 395-room property, which is currently owned by New York-based real estate investors and developers, Aby Rosen and David Edelstein.