Key International buys dual-branded hotel in Clearwater

An affiliate of Miami-based Key International Inc. has acquired a dual-branded hotel in Clearwater it had managed that was completed last year, Pinellas County property records show.

Key Clearwater LLC spent $71 million to buy the SpringHill Suites and Residence Inn Clearwater Beach, among the company’s first acquisitions along the Gulf Coast.

The dual-flagged, seven-story property was completed last year, and features a beachfront location, an on-site marina and 7,000 square feet of retail space, according to Key’s website.

The SpringHill Suites portion of the project contains 115 keys, while the Residence Inn has 140 suites.

Key bought the property, at 309 Coronado Drive, from a Chattanooga, Tenn.-based firm.

Sophia Leavell, a company spokeswoman, says Key decided to buy the hotel to “diversify their hospitality portfolio.”

“Additionally, the dual-branded element adds a level of uniqueness,” Leavell says.

She adds that Key will embark early next year on a roughly $1 million upgrade of the 20-slip marina on the property, which will result in new docks and a seawall. Hotel management intends to offer monthly dock rentals for boats and jet skis.

The company also is working to complete build-outs on the retail space to eateries and others that will activate the entire area and provide another attraction when fully completed next summer.

Key International also owns hotels in Miami’s South Beach, Destin, Gainesville, St. Augustine and Savannah, Ga., its website states.

The company is perhaps best known, however, for its $350 million acquisition of the Eden Roc resort in Miami Beach, in 2005. The company completed a roughly $250 million expansion and renovation of the property three years later.

Today, the resort features 631 rooms and a host of amenities, including one of a select few Nobu restaurants in the U.S.

The company, run by the Ardid family, was established in Spain in the 1970s. Today, it has holdings in both Europe and the U.S., and its portfolio contains roughly 40 office, condominium, hotel and multifamily rental properties.