Aloft South Beach Fetches $105M

By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

Aloft South Beach

Miami—Aloft South Beach, the largest of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide’s Aloft-branded properties, has come under new ownership. JMH Development and Lightstone affiliate Madden Real Estate Ventures, which completed the hotel in mid-2015, recently sold the 235-key lodging destination to Rockpoint Group and Highgate in a $105 million transaction.

When the time is right, the time is right. “We had opened and positioned the hotel, but it still had an opportunity for further growth by the new owner,” Mitchell Hochberg, president & COO of privately held real estate company Lightstone, told Commercial Property Executive.

Fronting the ocean at 2360 Collins Ave., Aloft South Beach is what emerged from JMH’s redevelopment of the former Motel Ankara. The partners gave the 62-year-old property a massive makeover—with a focus on retaining the structure’s Art Deco-inspired architecture—and added a new eight-story ADD Inc.-designed tower to top off the transformation. It’s a mixture of the old and new, yesteryear and tomorrow. JMH and Madden must have done something right; Aloft South Beach was named the 2015 Americas Lodging Investment Summit Hotel Development of the Year in March.

The investment community took note. “There were many offers from public REITs, private equity firms and individual investors,” Hochberg added. “The property benefited from its excellent waterfront location in the middle of Miami Beach, the Starwood brand, its boutique design, large hotel rooms and Steven Starr restaurant.”

The hotel has not only gotten a new owner; it’s gotten a new name. Aloft South Beach is now The Gates Hotel South Beach–a DoubleTree by Hilton.

Image courtesy of JMH Development