Here are 2023’s Biggest South Florida Hotel Sales

Nine South Florida hotels sold for a combined half-billion dollars this year. But even cobbled together, those deals fell far short of 2023’s top hotel sale, the $835 million trade of the Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood. 

That top sale was more than three times last year’s No. 1 hotel deal: the $232 million sale of the Confidante Miami Beach. 

It’s also proof that hospitality investors gravitated to five-star properties in 2023. 

Across South Florida, the hotel market experienced a slowdown in daily bookings, amid an oversupply of new rooms, according to a One Commercial Real Estate report. As a result, the market saw less investment sales than last year. 

But demand for luxury and upscale hotels shot up, accounting for nearly 25 percent of all deals through the first three quarters of 2023 compared to 10 percent during the same period of last year, the report found. And the average sale price for a hotel increased to $35 million, compared to $30 million last year. 

Here are South Florida’s 10 biggest hotel sales of the year, according to data from Colliers and Cushman & Wakefield:

$835M | Diplomat Beach Resort | Hollywood

Honolulu-based Trinity Investments teamed up with Credit Suisse to purchase the 1,000-room oceanfront hotel at 3555 South Ocean Drive from New York-based Brookfield Property Partners. The year’s biggest deal also included two adjacent development sites and parking garages with ground-floor retail along the Intracoastal Waterway. 

Brookfield, which was asking $1 billion for the iconic hotel, paid $460 million for the property in 2014.

$165M | Nautilus Sonesta Miami Beach | Miami Beach

Service Properties Trust acquired the eight-story Art Deco hotel designed by Morris Lapidus. The Newton, Massachusetts-based real estate investment trust paid about $661,000 per room for the 250-key oceanfront Nautilus at 1825 Collins Avenue. 

The seller, Quadrum Global, a United Kingdom-based real estate investment firm led by CEO Oleg Pavlov, paid $61 million for the Nautilus in 2011.

$118M | Hilton Miami Airport Blue Lagoon | Miami

MCR, a hospitality focused real estate investment firm with offices in New York, Dallas, Chicago and Richmond, Virginia, bought the 508-room Hilton-branded hotel at 5101 Blue Lagoon Drive. The deal breaks down to roughly $233,000 per key. Sitting on 20.6 acres, the 14-story hotel completed in 1983 has 32,000-square-feet of meeting space. The seller, Tysons, Virginia-based Park Hotels & Resorts, paid $55.8 million for the property in 1997. 

$73M | Westgate South Beach Oceanfront Resort | Miami Beach

Miami-based 13th Floor Investments and Miami Beach-based Opera Acquisitions purchased the 46-unit timeshare resort built in 1938 at 3611 Collins Avenue. The joint venture intends to redevelop the property and an adjacent hotel. The deal breaks down to $1.5 million per unit. The sellers were an affiliate of Orlando-based Westgate Resorts, and the building’s condo association.

$63M | Hotel Colonnade, Autograph Collections | Coral Gables

Dallas-based Crescent Real Estate and Houston-based Sage Street Equity Partners bought the Marriott Autograph Collection-branded hotel at 180 Aragon Avenue. The partnership paid about $401,000 per key for the 157-room historic building completed in 1926. Seller Pebblebrook Hotel Trust paid $43.1 million for the property in 2014. 

$54M | SLS Brickell Hotel | Miami

Constellation Hospitality Group, led by members of Qatar’s ruling royal family, the Al Thanis, sold the 124-key hotel at 1300 South Miami Avenue to Kastrati Group, an Albanian conglomerate. Kastrati paid about $431,000 per room. In 2016, Coconut Grove-based Related completed the 54-story mixed-use tower and two years later sold the hotel component to Constellation for $43 million. 

$28M | Sheraton Suites Fort Lauderdale at Cypress Creek | Fort Lauderdale

Ben Mallah, a Tampa Bay-based real estate investor, sold the Sheraton-branded hotel with 253 rooms at 555 Northwest 62nd Street to a group of investors. The buyers were Arif Butt, Mushtaque and Fahr Juneja, Naveed Chowhan, Muhammad Wasim Sajid and Abdul Jabbar. The deal breaks down to $111,000 per key for the eight-story hotel built in 1987. Mallah paid $18.3 million in 2018. 

$27M | South Beach Plaza Hotel | Miami Beach

New York-based Blue Suede Hospitality acquired the 55-room hotel at 1401 Collins Avenue, as well as South Beach Plaza Villas, an adjacent 24-key building at 1411 Collins Avenue. The two property purchases break down to about $335,000 per room. The Art Deco buildings were completed in 1934 and 1936. The sellers, entities managed by Fahr Juneja, Abdul Buridi, Naveed Chowan and Arif Butt, paid $12.3 million for the hotel and villas in 2009. 

$24M | Crystal Beach Suites | Miami Beach

Delray Beach-based Kolter Group’s hospitality division and Aventura-based BH Group teamed up to purchase the 84-room hotel at 6985 Collins Avenue. The deal breaks down to roughly $286,000 per key for the building completed in 1950. In 1991, sellers Carrie Garazi, Jennifer Sheppard and Hillel and Judith Meyers paid $4.5 million for the property. 

$23M | Residence Inn Fort Lauderdale SW Miramar | Miramar

New York-based Three Wall Capital acquired the 130-key Marriott-branded hotel as part of a $64 million purchase of a three-property portfolio from Blackstone. Three Wall paid roughly $176,000 per room for the five-story Residence Inn completed in 2006 at 14700 Hotel Road. Blackstone paid $14.7 million for the property and an adjacent Courtyard by Marriott hotel in 2014.