Blackstone Trades $170M South FL Hotel

By Jeff Hamann

Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina

Blackstone Group has sold the 589-key Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina to Brookfield Property Group. The sale price was $170.7 million, according to public records. The buyer assumed the previous owner’s $87 million mortgage as part of the transaction, increasing the principal balance to $139.1 million. The amended and restated loan is held by CitiBank.

The 13-story hotel located at 1881 S.E. 17th St. is positioned two miles from Fort Lauderdale Beach. Adjacent to the 600,000-square-foot Greater Fort Lauderdale Broward County Convention Center, the asset is near a variety of shopping and dining options, with a local bus route increasing access throughout the city.

Completed in 1980, the property underwent renovations nearly a decade ago. In 2009, Blackstone finished a $70 million capital improvement project to redesign guestrooms and update common areas.

Hotel amenities include:

• swimming pool
• fitness center
• business center
• marina with 33 boat slips
• 21,000 square feet of event space
• two on-site restaurants and a bar

A CBRE Hotels team led by Christian Charre and Paul Weimer represented Blackstone in the transaction.

“The Hilton Marina is a strategic property in an area with extremely high barriers to entry. We encountered a great amount of interest from the investor community and had multiple rounds of competitive bidding,” said Senior Vice President Charre of CBRE Hotels, in prepared remarks.

In 2016, Blackstone netted $163 million from its sale of the 384-key Pier 66 Marina and Hyatt Regency just across the Intracoastal Waterway from the Hilton.

Image courtesy of CBRE