July 20–Pioneering developer Tony Goldman, who died last year, bought his first piece of South Beach in 1986: the Park Central Hotel and adjoining properties on Ocean Drive.
Taking advantage of intense demand in the market, an affiliate of Goldman Properties sold the 125-room hotel at 640 Ocean Dr. in a deal that closed last week.
“We had a deep love for that property and it was really the beginning of what I like to call my father’s love story with Miami Beach,” said Jessica Goldman Srebnick, CEO of Goldman Properties. “It was a very important and iconic property, still is. And I think that like in life, things have an evolution…for us, the Park Central, it was time for its next evolution.”
She said the company will hold on to The Hotel at 801 Collins Ave., which opened in late 1998.
“We’re going to maintain that property and truthfully, the [Park Central] sale gives us a lot of flexibility to pursue other opportunities,” she said.
Financial terms of the deal, which closed July 11, were not disclosed, but county records show combined sales of the hotel and surrounding property topped $39 million.
The buyer was Park Central Partners, LLC, a group headed by Miami real estate broker and businessman Ricardo Tabet, Houston developer Giorgio Borlenghi and Rodolfo Misitano, a European fund CEO.
“We wanted to make sure that the people that took over the guardianship of the property would love and care for it the way we did and would continue with the true hospitality and the true authenticity of the property,” Srebnick said. “With this group, that’s their commitment, that’s their intention. For us, it was a really wonderful fit.”
Gregory Rumpel, the managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels in Miami, arranged the deal, one of a handful of recent transactions involving historic hotels in still-hot Miami Beach.
The brokerage firm, which handled the $12.5 million sale of the Royal Polo hotel at 2940 Collins Ave. earlier this month, is also marketing the boutique Cavalier Hotel for sale. The 46-room hotel, built in 1936, was acquired through foreclosure in March.
Although the property at 1320 Ocean Dr. is small and still needs some updates, Rumpel said it has some key selling points including the address on Ocean Drive and the on-site restaurant, bar and kitchen. Rumpel said the going price for Ocean Drive hotels is at least $300,000 a room, or about $13.8 million in the case of the Cavalier.
“These types of buildings are increasing becoming more attractive to institutional type investors because they’re seeing the play on Miami Beach is to try to get ahold of a handful of these smaller properties and then try to complex them and get efficiencies,” he said.
Northwest of the Cavalier, the sale of the 23-room Haddon Hall hotel at 1500 Collins Ave. and adjacent 45-unit Campton Apartments closed on Wednesday. Financial details were not released.
An affiliate of Rockwood Capital, a privately held real estate investment firm with offices in New York and California, was the buyer. HFF marketed the site for sellers Haddon Hall Associates and Campton Associates.
“This is a strong example of an institutional buyer entering the market to significantly rehabilitate a property that has an incredible location and the potential to create significant value,” said HFF senior managing director Daniel Peek, head of the firm’s hospitality practice group, in a statement.
