From the South Florida site: An affiliate of Ziel Feldman’s HFZ Capital Group has acquired the historic Shore Club hotel in South Beach in a $175.3 million transaction, The Real Deal has learned.
New York-based Philips South Beach filed a special warranty deed transferring ownership of the 1901 Collins Avenue property to another New York company, Shore Club Property Owner, on Monday, according to Miami-Dade County records. The county recorded the deed on Tuesday.
The transaction was the most expensive involving a South Florida hotel in 2013.
Shore Club Property is managed by New York-based HFZ Capital Group, according to state corporate records. HFZ is a real estate development and investment firm founded nine years ago by Feldman. Calls to Feldman were not immediately returned.
Two mortgage assignments were filed concurrently with the deed. A $161 million loan from a group of lenders managed by Fortress Credit Corporation was assumed by Shore Club Property Owner. A second note totaling $12 million from the same group of lenders was also assigned to the company.
Those mortgages were obtained by Philips South Beach in June to resolve a lengthy foreclosure case. The company, managed by private real estate development and management firm Philips International, faced a June 25 online foreclosure auction of the property if it did not obtain new financing.
Philips International had a majority stake in the 309-room hotel. It is not immediately clear if the company is involved in the new ownership entity.
Hospitality operator Morgans Hotel Group handles guest operations at the Shore Club and has a minority interest of about seven percent in Philips South Beach, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Morgans’ website currently offers nightly room rates starting at $319.
The company’s most recent quarterly report, filed in November, hinted at a potential management or ownership shakeup. Morgans “continues to operate the hotel pursuant to the management agreement, but no assurance can be provided that [it] will continue to do so,” the company said in the quarterly filing.
The Shore Club was constructed in 1938. The 2.7-acre property last sold for $8.8 million in 1997.