MIAMI BEACH, FLA. — An affiliate of Casa Hotels Group has purchased a 30-room hotel in Miami Beach known as the Eva Hotel. CBRE facilitated the $8.1 million sale of the property, which features a fast-casual restaurant and covered parking. Natalie Castillo and Joshua Beene of CBRE represented the seller, Lender West LLC, in the transaction. The Eva Hotel is located at 1506 Collins Ave., between the shopping and entertainment enclaves of Lincoln Road and Española Way and just across the street from the northernmost point of Ocean Drive. The property is situated a half-block from the beach and five miles away from Miami International Airport. The Eva Hotel was originally built in 1962 and last renovated in 2016. The Casa Hotels Group plans to renovate the property before reopening in 2022.
DENVER — Avistone, a Denver-based commercial real estate investment firm specializing in the acquisition and operation of multi-tenant industrial properties nationwide, has appointed Charlie Muller as managing director of its newly formed Avistone Hospitality Division. “With the travel industry facing continued headwinds, a number of owners are opting to divest their properties and portfolios versus riding out the troubled forecast,” says Richard Kent, president of Avistone. “This creates opportunity for investment firms such as our own. “While we historically have focused on more industrial properties and business parks, our core expertise remains real estate investment, including identifying opportunity, capitalizing investments, repositioning properties, improving cash flow and enhancing value at disposition.” With nearly four decades of hospitality experience in operations, acquisitions, development, asset management and dispositions, Muller has completed more than $7.5 billion in transactions, including acquiring more than 75 hotels, developing/redeveloping 19 hotels and overseeing asset management practices for over 200 hotels and recreational properties. Prior to joining Avistone, Muller served at First Hospitality, Omni Hotels & Resorts, CNL Hotels & Resorts and CNL Lifestyle Properties. “Creating and utilitizing private equity funds, we will seek investments in limited-service, extended-stay, full-service and resort hotels throughout the United States,” says Muller. “We …
SARASOTA, FLA. — Coldwell Banker Commercial and Coldwell Banker Realty in Florida have represented the sellers of the former Gulf Beach Resort Motel in a transaction valued at $23.5 million. Elliot Rose with Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT and Judy Kepecz-Hays with Coldwell Banker Realty’s Longboat Key, Fla., office co-listed the property. The undisclosed buyer plans to redevelop the 2.3-acre site as a beachfront luxury condominium tower. The Gulf Beach Resort Motel is located at located at 930 Benjamin Franklin Drive in the Lido Key area of Sarasota. It was built in 1950 and was part of the post-World War II motel construction boom that addressed the needs of a growing number of tourists to the area. In 1977, the motel was converted into a condominium form of ownership containing 43 units.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of the Holiday Inn Buffalo International Airport, a 207-room hotel, for $3.9 million. The property was built in 1968 and features banquet facilities, a fitness center, shuttle service, business center and an outdoor pool. Jerry Swon, Daniel Zagoria, Luke Prybylski and Will Nollmann of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller, DSM California LLC, in the transaction. The team also secured the buyer, Stephen Development LLC.
NEW YORK CITY — JLL has negotiated the sale of the 443-room New York LaGuardia Airport Marriott hotel in Queens. The building spans 224,620 square feet and houses the Ditmars Bar & Grill restaurant, a fitness center and 13,000 square feet of meeting and event space. The property received $30 million in renovations in 2018, including reconfigurations of public spaces and meeting areas, as well as remodeling of guest rooms and upgrading of parking lots. K.C. Patel, Kevin Davis and Nikhil Chuchra of JLL represented the seller, Rubicon Cos., in the transaction. California-based ASAP Holdings purchased the asset for an undisclosed price.
By Brian Morrissey, Esq. and Lisa Stuckey, Esq. of Ragsdale Beals Seigler Patterson & Gray LLP Few commercial properties emerged with unscathed values from the harsh economic climate of 2020. Yet Georgia and many jurisdictions like it valued commercial real estate for property taxation that year with a valuation date of Jan. 1, 2020 — nearly three months before COVID-19 thrust the U.S. economy into turmoil. This means governments taxed commercial properties for all of 2020 on values that ignored the severe economic consequences those properties endured for more than 75 percent of the calendar year. When property owners begin to receive notices of 2021 assessments, which Georgia assessors typically mail out in April through June each year, property owners can at last seek to lighten their tax burden by arguing for reduced assessments. The pandemic hurt some real estate types more than others, however, and with both short-term effects and some that may continue to depress asset values for years. For taxpayers contesting their assessments, the challenge will be to show the combination of COVID-19 consequences affecting their property, and the extent of resulting value losses. The experiences of 2020 can serve as a roadmap for valuations in the …
ST. LOUIS — Midas Construction is building an AC Hotel in the Central West End of St. Louis. The seven-story, 192-room hotel is located at 215 York Ave. Construction costs total $26.4 million. Completion is slated for the fourth quarter of this year. Project developers include Concord Hospitality, Koplar Properties and Homebase Partners. The hotel is being built on a site formerly occupied by the KPLR television station, which was demolished in December 2019. Midas is optimizing its construction process by using building information modeling and fabricating some components offsite. The project team includes ENGWorks, HDA Architects, Alper Audi, DeLuca Plumbing, McClure Engineering, Eisen Group and DLR Group. This is the first hotel project in the Central West End in nearly 20 years, according to Midas.
NEW YORK CITY — Mortgage banking company Merchants Capital has arranged a $51 million construction loan and $28.4 million in Freddie Mac Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) to fund the redevelopment of Manhattan’s historic Park 79 hotel into an affordable housing property for seniors. The borrower and project developer, Fairstead, will oversee renovations that will reconfigure the seven-story building into 77 apartments along with multiple community spaces, including an indoor/outdoor community room, dining room and meeting rooms. Additional rehabilitation will be done throughout the building, including creation of a common dining and recreation room, social services offices and an outdoor garden area. Upon completion, the property will employ two full-time social service coordinators to work alongside residents in organizing community programming events. The hotel originally opened in 1899 as “The Indiana.” The redevelopment is expected to be complete in 2022.
SACRAMENTO, CALIF. — McClellan Business Park, a privately-owned, 3,000-acre mixed-use project in Sacramento, has acquired Lions Gate Hotel, located at 3410 Westover St. in McClellan Park, a census-designated place in Sacramento County. Oceanic Victorville LP, which owned the property since 2017, will remain under contract to operate the historic hotel. From 1938 to 2000, the 112-room asset served as military housing for McClellan Air Force Base. The property was renovated in 2019 and is adjacent to The Officer’s Club, a restaurant and event center also owned by McClellan Business Park. The hotel features a business center, room service, a swimming pool, ample parking and proximity to the Sacramento McClellan Airport.
FeaturesHospitalityIndustrialMixed-UseMultifamilyNew JerseyNortheastOfficeProperty TypeRestaurantRetail
US Commercial, Multifamily Construction Starts Down 20 Percent in 2020, Says Dodge Data
HAMILTON, N.J. —The value of commercial and multifamily construction starts in 2020 tumbled 20 percent to end the year at $193.4 billion, according to Dodge Data & Analytics. Within the top 20 metropolitan areas that the Hamilton-based research firm tracks, the fall was more severe as that group’s starts fell by 23 percent in value, or $111.1 billion. Overall, commercial real estate starts fell 26 percent in value to $104 billion, while multifamily building activity slid by 11 percent to $89.5 billion. Richard Branch, chief economist for Dodge Data, says that the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant negative impact on commercial and multifamily construction across the country with only a few markets seeing year-over-year increases in construction starts compared to 2019. “The construction sector will show signs of recovery in 2021, but, the road back to full recovery will be long and difficult. The effects of the pandemic on the U.S. economy and building markets will be felt for several years,” says Branch. “While some areas stabilized over the summer, the current wave of the virus has further hindered activity.” Only one metro area in Dodge Data’s top 10, Phoenix, reported a year-over increase in construction starts. The No. 7 …