MIAMI — Swire Hotels is set to open EAST, Miami, the company's first hotel in the United States. The hotel, which will feature 263 guestrooms and 89 apartment units, is set to open in 2015 at Brickell City Centre, Swire Properties Inc.'s $1.05 billion mixed-use development in Miami's Brickell neighborhood. The hotel will feature two restaurants, a poolside bar and lounge, rooftop bar, meeting rooms, banquet halls, outdoor pool deck and a 24-hour fitness center. The property is Swire Hotels' third hotel, with the other two being EAST, Hong Kong and EAST, Beijing. The design team includes architect Arquitectonica and interior designer Clodagh Design.
Hospitality
ATLANTA — PCCP LLC has provided a senior loan to Atlanta-based Portman Holdings for the acquisition and partial repositioning of a 27-story office building located at 230 Peachtree St. in downtown Atlanta. Portman Holdings plans to convert floors two through nine into a 200-room Hotel Indigo, an Intercontinental Hotel Group brand hotel. The rest of the 414,768-square-foot building will remain office space. The property was 46 percent occupied at the time of the sale. Hospitality Ventures Management will manage the Hotel Indigo upon completion.
NEW YORK CITY — Amsterdam-based citizenM has partnered with Brack Capital Real Estate to open citizenM New York, the first citizenM hotel in the United States. Located off the corner of Broadway and 50th Street near Times Square, the 80,000-square-foot, 21-story hotel offers 230 rooms. Amsterdam-based Concrete and New York-based Montroy Andersen DeMarco designed the hotel, which offers a 2,300-square-foot first floor, public outdoor spaces, and a 1,500-square-foot mezzanine that includes a lounge and work area. Construction began on the hotel in summer 2012 and the structure topped out in 2013. In addition to the design team, the project team included Flintlock Construction Services, DeSimone Consulting Engineers and Gilsanz Murray Steficek.
LITTLE ROCK, ARK. — Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. has unveiled that its Aloft brand has begun an adaptive re-use project of the 12-story Boyle Building in downtown Little Rock. Aloft will convert the office building, which was first opened as the State National Bank Building in 1909, into a 140-room hotel by early 2016. The hotel, known as Aloft Little Rock Downtown, will be part of a mixed-use development that will include ground-floor retail, an upscale restaurant and a coffee shop. The hotel will be Starwood’s first hotel in Little Rock.
LOUISVILLE, KY. — HREC Investment Advisors has arranged the sale of the 271-room Holiday Inn Louisville East in Louisville. Lakshmi Narayan Hospitality Group Louisville LLC purchased the asset from a national special servicer for an undisclosed price. Monty Levy, Tom Sommer and Scott Stephens of HREC represented the seller in the transaction.
NORCROSS, ATLANTA AND MARIETTA, GA. — Merric Millwork and Seating has completed millwork renovations to the common areas of three Courtyard by Marriott hotels in Georgia. The work for each project was done simultaneously. The hotels include the Courtyard by Marriott Peachtree Corners in Norcross, Courtyard by Marriott Windy Hill in Atlanta and Courtyard by Marriott Marietta in Marietta. The millwork renovations included work on the focal wall, quick print station, library, business center and other common area features. The design team includes general contractor Artistic General Contracting and developer Sage Hospitality.
OGUNQUIT, MAINE — Rockbridge has acquired The Cliff House Resort & Spa, a historic 142-year-old 166-room resort situated on 70 oceanfront acres atop Bald Head Cliff in Ogunquit. Rockbridge, through a joint venture with Maine-based hoteliers Marc Dugas and Peter Anastos, purchased the resort with plans to complete a comprehensive renovation after the 2015 season. New Castle Hotels will manage The Cliff House for Rockbridge. Amenities at the resort include three dining options ranging from fine to casual, 13,000 square feet of meeting space with a 150-seat amphitheater, a 2,500-square-foot fitness center, vanishing edge swimming pool, 75-foot indoor lap pool, whirlpool, steam room and sauna.
HOUSTON — Developer Western International has purchased 5.2 acres of land in of Houston’s Energy Corridor submarket for the construction of two new hotels. The properties, one of which will be operated under the Courtyard by Marriott brand and the other under the Hampton Inn & Suites brand, will each include 135 rooms. Located within the Ten Oaks development, a project of Wolff Cos. that is situated at the intersection of Barker-Cypress Road and Park Row, the hotels will be in proximity to the Texas Medical Center – West Campus and Texas Children’s Hospital, as well as major employers Wood Group, Mustang Engineering and Sercel. Western International plans to break ground on the properties this summer.
CHAMBLEE, GA. — Construction is underway for a new four-story, 124-room Value Place hotel in Chamblee, about 14 miles north of downtown Atlanta. The hotel will be located at 2877 Dresden Drive, near the intersection of I-85 and Chamblee Tucker Road. EMJ Hospitality will manage the hotel upon completion, which is slated for February 2015.
NEW YORK CITY — Pembrook Capital Management has closed on a $24.8 million bridge loan to fund McSam Hotel Group’s purchase of a Manhattan development site. Located on West 37th Street between Eighth and Ninth avenues, the site currently features two parking lots that will be developed into a hotel property. The site is situated in close proximity to Hudson Yards and the Javits Center and will benefit from ongoing transportation improvements that are transforming the neighborhood.