Brookfield, Gencom’s Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne For Sale

Brookfield Properties is looking to sell the waterfront Ritz-Carlton resort in Key Biscayne, sources told The Real Deal.

Brookfield is working with JLL to market the 302-room, 275,000-square-foot property at 455 Grand Bay Drive, sources said. Brookfield acquired Watermark’s two-thirds stake in the property when it purchased Watermark Lodging Trust last year for $3.8 billion. Karim Alibhai’s Gencom, a Miami-based hotel investment firm, owns about one-third of the property.

Brookfield closed on a $210 million refinancing backed by the oceanfront resort at the end of July, records show. Citibank, as the administrative agent representing a group of lenders, increased the loan from $190 million. MetLife provided the latter mortgage in 2016.

Brookfield and Watermark did not immediately respond to requests for comment. JLL and Gencom declined to comment.

The 13-story Ritz-Carlton was built in 2001 on a 12-acre property with 1,200 feet of beachfront, pools, a tennis center and meeting space. The property also includes luxury condos that are branded Ritz-Carlton.

Brookfield owns about 30 properties in South Florida, including the Mayfair Hotel & Spa in Coconut Grove, the Shops at Merrick Park and a stake in the Miami Design District.

In 2015, Gencom sold its majority interest in the Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne for $325 million to Carey Watermark Investors. Two years later, Gencom sold the Ritz-Carlton Coconut Grove for $36 million, or about $313,000 per room, to Hersha Hospitality Trust.

Major hotel investment sales have been few and far between, driven by the high cost of financing and insurance, brokers say.

Earlier this year, Trinity Investments and Credit Suisse paid $835 million for the Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood, one of the largest hotels in South Florida.

Last year, Hyatt Hotels Corporation sold the Confidante Miami Beach for $232 million, or $684,000 per room, to California-based Sunstone Hotel Investors.

In 2019, Host Hotels paid $610 million for 1 Hotel South Beach, marking a new per-room record for Miami-Dade hotel sales at $1.42 million a key. Barry Sternlicht’s Starwood Capital Group and LeFrak sold the luxury oceanfront hotel more than three years ago.