$133 Million Margaritaville Hotel Approved in Kentucky

The DJIA fell 191 points but Nasdaq was up 35, the S&P 500 fell 7 points but the 10-year treasury yield was down .09 to 4.84%. Lodging stocks were mixed. While there were no significant movers, new lows were set by VCSA, SVC, AINC and SOHO. SVC now has a dividend yield of 11.24%.

HSBC included lodging in their initiation of stocks in their leisure and travel segment. Buy ratings were initiated on Hyatt ($133), Marriott ($233), Hilton ($191) and Host Hotels ($21) with the price targets in parenthesis. HSBC launched coverage on Park Hotels with a Hold rating ($13) as they did with Choice Hotels ($131) and Service Properties Trust ($8).

BPM Real Estate Group announced the October 31 opening date for the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and Residences, in Portland, Oregon. The 35-story, $600 million tower will offer 251 hotel rooms and 132 condos, 16,000 square feet of meeting and event space and a restaurant and a food hall.

Maverick Hotels and Restaurants has added another property in Illinois to its growing portfolio. Located in Rockford, the 84-room Riverview Inn & Suites, Ascend Hotel Collection offers a conference center, library, communal living room, a fitness center and laundry facilities. 

North American Properties received preliminary approval for a $133.6 million Margaritaville hotel in Newport, Kentucky. Expected to be completed by fall 2026, the Northern Kentucky property will offer 264 rooms, several Margaritaville restaurants and bar concepts, a pool, retail area, and 10,000 square feet of meeting/event space.

Kalahari Resorts and Conventions broke ground, on its fifth resort, on Friday in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. Estimated to open in 2026, The Spotsylvania County Kalahari Resort location will offer 907 guestrooms and suites, an indoor waterpark, Tom Foolerys Adventure Park, and 12 onsite food & beverage outlets. The new resort will boast over 150,000 square feet of meeting and convention space. 

IHG Hotels & Resorts announced the opening of the Holiday Inn Express Cape Canaveral in Florida. Owned by KWHP Cape, LLC and manage by Valor Hospitality, the 150-room property offers meeting space, a business center, a fitness center and an outdoor pool and splash zone.

A high-profile Toronto condominium project has been placed into receivership by its biggest lender, refusing to foot the bill for $1.6 billion in unpaid debts until someone else is in charge. The One was taken over by a court-appointed receiver this week after the project’s financiers defaulted on more than $1.2 billion in loans on the project. The land was first purchased by Sam Mizrahi for $300 million almost a decade ago, with plans to develop the site into an 85-story mixed-use retail, hotel and residential skyscraper with 416 residential units. The project broke ground in 2017 and since then the project has been plagued by delays and cost overruns and continual infighting between Mizrahi and his partner on the project Jenny Coco. The main lenders for The One are KEB Hana Bank, who have asked a court to assign someone to step in and take over the project to get it completed, or they won’t extend their next payment on the project, for more than $315 million. In addition to the more than $1.2 billion in loans already in default, another $130 million is owed to Aviva and China-East Resources Import & export Corporation is owed $182 million. The price tag for the project has ballooned from $1.4 billion to more than $2 billion today, with an opening planned for 2025 at the earliest. Currently, construction has stalled at about 40 stories, and while 346 residential suites have been sold so far, at a collective price of $675 million, the other 70 have not. At the request of KEB Hana Bank, restructuring firm Alvarez & Marsal has been appointed as the monitor for the proceedings. The receiver has requested that Mizrahi and the company remain the developer and general contractor to oversee completion of the project. Mizrahi maintains his equity position in the project. 

The Siegel Group has acquired the former Sunstyle Suites Inn located in Orlando, Florida. The property was purchased for $10.33 million in an off-market transaction. The 3-story exterior corridor property is comprised of 191 units that are all equipped with kitchenettes. The Siegel Group will be making a number of improvements in all units. Additionally, the exterior of the property will be painted along with other cosmetic upgrades including lighting, branding and signage that are characteristic of the Siegel Select brand. Also included in the sale was a vacant parcel of land located contiguous to the property which the company will either develop or sell.

A new boutique hotel in Danville, Virginia is just about complete, with the first guests expected to check in by the middle of next month. According to the developer, Ed Walker, The Holbrook Hotel will offer 45 luxury units with kitchenettes. There will be no bar or restaurant operations onsite.

KT Urban has cleared an environmental review of its plans to build a seven-story, 176-room boutique hotel in San Jose, California. The developer estimated the Olin Hotel project will take about 21 months to build and hopes to begin work next year. 

Pasea Hotel & Spa, the Huntington California-based Meritage Collection hotel, announced a complete revamp of its food and beverage program, slated to be unveiled in Spring 2024. The hotel’s dining venues will undergo a $5 million renovation, opening a brand-new restaurant concept on the ground floor were Tanner’s Restaurant currently sites. Tanner’s Restaurant will close on October 30, 2023. The hotel is launching a pop-up concept in the interim featuring an indoor dining room, bar and ocean-view veranda set between the lobby and the Ninth Island Pool. 

Thrash Group is planning to build a mixed-use complex in Brandon, Mississippi. The $45 million dollar development will offer an 82-room boutique hotel, 92 loft apartments, retail and office space. Developers hope to get to work on the project soon. Shovels could hit the ground by January and take 18 months to complete. Developers said the Heights at Brandon will have 18,000 square feet of retail space and a green space for holding outdoor events.

Annette Gervais and Lee Uncapher purchased the Hotel Saxonburg, in Saxonburg, Pennsylvania from Judy Ferree. In June 2022, Ferree put Hotel Saxonburg up for sale with an initial asking price of $1.2 million, which included the building’s liquor license. 

Riu Hotels and Resorts is opening a brand-new all inclusive resort near Montego Bay, Jamaica next year. The new Riu Palace Aquarelle will be set on White Bay Beach in Falmouth and will have a total of 700 rooms, four pools, a children’s pool with waterslides and Riu’s popular Splash Water World waterpark, a wellness center with a gym, and multiple dining concepts. The Aquarelle will be Riu’s seventh hotel in Jamaica.

Personnel Move

Four Seasons announced the promotion of Adrian Messerli to the role of President, Hotel Operations - Europe, Middle East and Africa. In the coming months, Messerli will oversee openings of a second Four Seasons hotel in Doha at The Pearl-Qatar, and a third hotel in Morocco. In the years ahead, the company’s Italian portfolio is expected to expand. Four Seasons has also announced multiple projects in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, was well as new developments in Muscat, Oman and the conversion of the Hotel Formentor in Mallorca, Spain for a Four Seasons Resort. 

Europe Highlights

Hilton announced plans to open Italy’s first LXR Hotels & Resorts property, following a franchise agreement with Paval Holding and Apex Alliance. Grand Hotel Gardone Lake Garda, LXR Hotels & Resorts is set to open in 2026 following a multimillion Euro renovation. The hotel is owned by Apex Alliance and Paval Holding and will be managed by Apex Alliance Hotel Management. Upon the completion of an ambitious renovation, the property will offer 160 guestrooms, two signature restaurants, two bars and a spa featuring indoor and outdoor pools and fitness facilities. Additionally the hotel will feature 825 square meters of meeting space, including a ballroom with an expansive terrace overlooking the lake.

Making its debut in Spain, Tivoli Hotels & Resorts, by Minor Hotels, announced the opening of Tivoli La Caleta Tenerife Resort in the Canary Islands. Following extensive renovations, Tivoli La Caleta opens with 284 rooms including 20 suites; over 9,580 square feet of flexible meeting spaces; a spa and wellness area offering ten treatment rooms, a vitality indoor pool, sauna, steam bath and an ice igloo; Tivoli Shape; and three distinctive restaurants. All three heated pools are newly refurbished, one of which is salt water, while another is adults-only. 

Frogmore and C1 Capital received approval from the planning committee of London’s Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea to more than double the hotel room count at the existing 404-room Hilton London Olympia, for a total of 905 rooms. The plans will create a property with an asset value of almost half a billion pounds sterling. The project is one small part of a wider development project that includes the 1.3 billion pounds sterling overhaul of the city’s Olympia Exhibition Center. Most of the exhibition complex closed in May 2021 for renovations, and it is due to reopen in 2025. The plans for the new hotel, due to open in 2027, include retaining part of the existing Hilton London Olympia and regenerating an area of land next to the exhibition center. The enlarged hotel will feature a rooftop garden and bar.

According to Hospitality Investor, Gruppo Statuto purchased the Six Senses luxury resort in Rome from Orion Capital for £245 million. Coldwell Banker Commercial Italy advised Statuto on the transaction.