UPDATED: Claremont buys Marriott in Pompano

The Residence Inn Fort Lauderdale Pompano Beach at 1350 North Ocean Boulevard
The Residence Inn Fort Lauderdale Pompano Beach at 1350 North Ocean Boulevard

The Claremont Companies just purchased a Marriott-branded hotel in Pompano Beach, property records show.

Claremont, a development company based in Massachusetts, was transferred ownership of the 10-story building and almost all of its 89 suites, except for one lonely unit that was sold to a New Jersey resident by the previous ownership.

The company financed its purchase of the beachfront condo-hotel at 1350 North Ocean Boulevard with a $21.5 million loan from U.S. National Bank, according to Broward County property records. A sale price has not been recorded.

The seller of the hotel was an affiliate of Mercury Investment, a real estate firm based in Minnesota.

On the company’s website, it states that the property was an independent condo-hotel once called the Ocean Sands Spa & Resort Residences. Mercury took over the building through a $30 million bulk purchase of all 89 units after the previous building managers were hit with a lawsuit from residents, which alleged they were withholding payments from when the units were leased out as hotel rooms.

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Mercury renovated the property from top-to-bottom in 2010 and converted it into a Residence Inn by Marriott, complete with signage at the top of the building.

The building’s purchase by Claremont comes roughly two weeks after the company sold one of its hotel holdings for $33.5 million in nearby Fort Lauderdale: the Residence Inn Fort Lauderdale Intracoastal/Il Lugano.

UPDATED 09/10/2015: A news release about the sale from commercial brokerage HFF said that the previous ownership was a joint venture between Concord Hospitality, Mercury Investment and Mayan Properties — an affiliate of the Aztec Group. The release confirms that Claremont was the buyer, and the sale includes 88 units at the 10-story condo-hotel. The purchase is clear of any debt, and Claremont will manage the property. 

Among other details, the hotel has 2,500 square feet of conference space, a wedding chapel, two swimming pools, spa and fitness facility, plus an on-site restaurant and direct access to the beach.

Max Comess and Scott Wadler of HFF represented the group of sellers for the deal. Aztec, an intermediary for real estate deals and the affiliate of one of the owners, also helped broker the deal through its agents Boaz Ashbel and Rachel Chang.