Commercial Real Estate

Floridays lands Hilton for Sarasota hotel
Floridays Development Co. has landed a relatively new Hilton Hotels Corp. brand as the flag for its planned Hotel Sarasota project downtown.

The designation of the Curio by Hilton brand comes as Floridays is preparing to finalize its land purchase from the city of Sarasota for the hotel adjacent to the municipality's 750-space parking garage.

Angus Rogers, Floridays' CEO, says construction on the 163-room boutique hotel will begin in early January. Floridays first proposed the boutique hotel for the 1255 N. Palm Ave. site in early 2012.

Unlike many chains, Hilton's Curio collection is being designed around “independent, remarkable” hotels, according to the company's website.

“Each hotel in the collection will be unique,” Rogers says. “Each one will have its own identity.”

Curio currently includes 20 hotels, including the Providence Biltmore in Rhode Island; the Boulders Resort & Spa in Arizona; and The Logan Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania.

In Florida, the only Curio hotel to date is the Diplomat Resort & Spa, in Hollywood, according to Hilton.

Previously, Floridays developed the Grande Riviera, a 13-unit condo project on Golden Gate Point, in Sarasota; the 432-room Floridays Resort Orlando; and the 228-unit Greens at Viera apartments in Viera.

Floridays plans come as a bevy of new hotels are either under construction or have been proposed in Sarasota, which lost roughly 600 hotels rooms a decade ago to condo conversions or redevelopment.

An aloft hotel and a Westin Hotel, both under construction downtown, will add nearly 400 rooms to the city's inventory in 2016. A handful of other proposed projects, including Floridays', would add another 620 rooms.

Brookside owners list marina
In a rare move, the owners of the Brookside Marina, in Naples, have listed the waterfront property for sale.

The 7.6-acre property, which contains 42 wet slips and the ability to develop 93 additional slips, is expected to sell for in excess of $3 million.

Brookside contains a pair of structures totaling about 30,500 square feet, and has 1,500 feet of water frontage, according to sales material developed by brokerage Land Solutions, of Fort Myers.

Marina sales are rare in Florida because numerous regulatory approvals are required to open new slips, in most cases.