A Sunshine State company has scooped up the biggest resort and hotel at a famed LGTBQ destination.
Florida-based hospitality firm Bowline Hospitality Group purchased the Ice Palace resort on Fire Island for $7.2 million, the New York Business Journal reported. The sale includes the Ice Palace nightclub and the 63-room Grove Hotel, the largest on the island, which is only accessible by boat.
The seller was a veterinarian, represented by Mitch Muroff of Muroff Hospitality Group. Muroff also secured the buyer. First National Bank of Long Island was a lender on the deal, but the amount of its loan was not disclosed.
The resort is close to the Cherry Grove dock, giving ferry customers quick access to the property. The nightclub opened in the 1950s and has welcomed the likes of Judy Garland, her daughter Liza Minelli and Lady Gaga.
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The hotel is significantly older, opening in 1885 as Perkinson’s Hotel. It has gone through numerous name and ownership changes since then and was rebuilt in 2018 after a fire destroyed most of the property.
Bowline is planning on making renovations and upgrades for the island’s offseason. The firm owns and operates boutique hotels in various cities in Florida, including Key West, St. Thomas and Marathon.
The Palms Hotel in the Ocean Beach section of the island was put on the market toward the end of last year for $14 million. The listing includes a lease of the restaurant that’s part of the hotel, which is run by the same owners.
The Palms Hotel is an assemblage of properties. Owned rooms include a 20-room main building on Cottage Walk, 13 bungalows on Bungalow Walk and six rooms and a suite on Bay Walk. Leased properties include the presidential suite above the Flair House boutique and two guest suites at the Palms Bay East.
In the past few years, a number of investors have bought dated hotels and motels in Long Island vacation communities with plans to modernize them and raise rates.
— Holden Walter-Warner