The CoCo Key Water Resort on North International Drive sold on Nov. 18 for $15.1 million to Fort Lauderdale-based hotel investor InSite Group, a company that co-owns the B Resort & Spa located near Downtown Disney, according to county records.
GrowthSpotter first reported in mid-July that the South Florida investment group had a contract to buy the property, and would continue operating the hotel under that brand flag until its current franchise agreement expires.
A lead executive for B Resort told GrowthSpotter in July that the CoCo Key could later be converted into a smaller format of B Resort that fits the I-Drive property’s two-story, 391-room infrastructure. The sale price breaks down to $38,618 per key.
The Orlando hotel acquisition was one of three made by InSite Group in the past week, after sourcing a loan of $83.4 million from DOF V REIT Holdings, an affiliate of New York-based Torchlight Investors. The company also bought the Sheraton Riverwalk Tampa for $32.8 million, and the former Clarion Inn & Suites on Canal Street in New Orleans for $20.4 million. All three properties were acquired from different sellers.
InSite Group did not return calls for comment late Monday afternoon for this story.
The I-Drive property was previously owned by Orlando-based CNL Financial, one of 67 properties in CNL’s Lifestyle Properties REIT. CoCo Key was being marketed for sale as that Lifestyle portfolio reaches its liquidity event.
CNL Lifestyle Properties bought the hotel for $19.1 million at the market’s pre-recession height in May 2008, and likely invested a few million more on renovation and conversion to the CoCo Key Water Resort flag through early 2010.
CoCo Key Water Resort has nine locations nationally that include its branded indoor water parks at hotels in Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey and Ohio. The Orlando location at 7400 I-Drive is the only one with an outdoor water park.
InSite Group has acquired multiple hotels in Florida in recent years through joint ventures and redeveloped them with the B Hotels & Resorts brand, under which it currently has four properties.
Most recently in December 2014, the company acquired the 487-room Yankee Clipper Sheraton Fort Lauderdale Beach Hotel, with full renovation and re-launch expected by 2016.
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