What began as a mid-size hotel development on East Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale has morphed into plans for the Whitfield, a boutique hotel and condominium with penthouses priced at $15 million.
After winning site plan approval for a 10-story hotel in 2021, Fort Lauderdale-based developers Steve Hudson and Charlie Ladd redesigned the project as a 12-story building with fewer hotel rooms and 17 condos on the upper floors.
“In hindsight, it’s really something we should have done in the beginning,” Hudson told The Real Deal on Wednesday, citing better access to “workable” financing for the project with a condo component.
The Fort Lauderdale City Commission on Tuesday unanimously approved an amended site plan for the mixed-use Whitfield building, designed with five condos on each of the 8th, 9th, and 10th floors, and two penthouses on the 11th floor. The 12th floor is designed with a pool and cabanas, a café and two private dining rooms.
The amended site plan also raised the height of the mixed-use building to 12 stories from 10 stories and reduced the number of hotel rooms to 81 from 138.
The developers plan to finish construction and open the project in about two years, said Hudson, a nephew of the late billionaire H. Wayne Huizenga. Hudson and his late father, Harris “Whit” Hudson, founded Hudson Capital Group in Fort Lauderdale in 1997. Ladd is president of Fort Lauderdale-based Barron Real Estate.
Their mixed-use development at 1007 East Las Olas Boulevard has been years in the making. They paid $8.3 million in 2016 for the development site at 1007 East Las Olas Boulevard through two Florida entities, Mustang Properties and 800 Las Olas, LLC, according to property records.
But Hudson and Ladd decided against building a hotel more recently. as interest rates and construction costs soared following city approval of their original site plan for a 138-room hotel in the spring of 2021. Since then, the total project cost has increased 50 percent, Hudson said without elaboration.
The developers haven’t yet secured construction financing for the Whitfield, but they face fewer financing obstacles because of the development’s condo component.
“Pre-construction [condo] sales will help fund the entire project cost,” Hudson said.
Pre-construction condo prices range from $3.7 million to $15 million, he said.
The condos won’t be available as hotel suites, Hudson said. “These condos are going to have a private entrance and a private elevator, as opposed to some of the larger condo-hotels that are on the beach.”
Hudson also said the hotel side of the Whitfield will operate as an independently branded luxury property affiliated with Leading Hotels of the World, a marketing organization that represents hundreds of luxury hotels.
Hudson said the plan is for a five-star luxury hotel, with room rates likely to start in the range of $800 to $900 a night.
He said the Whitfield name has been in his family for generations. “My father’s full name was Harris Whitfield Hudson,” he said. “I am Steven Whitfield Hudson … My son is Steven Whitfield Hudson Jr.”