An affiliate of Thayer Lodging Group just scored an additional $32 million loan for its Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood, bringing its total financing to $292 million, following a massive $100 million renovation.
Records show Morgan Stanley Mortgage Capital Holdings provided the financing for the 1,000-room resort at 3555 South Ocean Drive. It adds onto a $260 million mortgage Thayer secured for the property in 2014, in which Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Metropolitan Life Insurance Company were the lenders. Records show George Dabney, CFO of the Thayer Lodging Group, signed the latest mortgage for entities Diplomat Hotel Owner LLC and Diplomat Hotel Lessee LLC. Dabney was not immediately available for comment.
The hotel traded hands for $460 million in 2014, marking the highest price paid for a hotel in South Florida since that year. Other companies linked to Thayer paid $20 million for the resort’s neighboring 18-hole golf course in Hallandale Beach, and $55.5 million for numerous vacant properties nearby the site. Shortly after the sale, the hotel was rebranded to a Curio, a Hilton brand.
The Diplomat Beach Resort is the largest hotel in Broward County, according to a release. The hotel, which completed its renovations in April, offers 96 suites, 515 king-rooms and 484 double-rooms. Features include more than 200,000 square feet of meeting and event space; 10 restaurants, including Monkitail by Michael Schulson; and views of the Atlantic Ocean and Intracoastal Waterway.
Thayer, based in Annapolis, Maryland, operates several hotels in South Florida. It also owns a stake in Interstate Hotels & Resorts, the nation’s largest independent hotel management company.
Redevelopment for the site’s golf course is still in the pipeline. Last year, the city of Hallandale Beach approved a proposal by owners of the Diplomat Golf & Country Club, Louis Birdman, Mike Meyers and Nate Sirang, to construct four high-rise buildings on the 127-acre property with maximum heights ranging from 20 stories to 30 stories. The city also approved a maximum of 1,188 units on the property.