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Convert West Palm Beach condos into hotel for Palm Beach County convention center
March 18, 2009 by christina · Leave a Comment
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 16, 2009
WEST PALM BEACH - Palm Beach County has spent more than four years trying to build a hotel next to its downtown convention center.
Now, a local real estate consultant wants to sell county commissioners a nearby condo building that has already been constructed.
The fledgling CityPlace South Tower, justblocks from the convention center on Okeechobee Boulevard, could be transformed into a hotel with up to 600 rooms, according to a proposal by Christina Morrison Pearce.
Like many downtown condos, the developer has had a difficult time getting buyers to close on their units. As of last week, CityPlace South Tower had sold 38 of its 420 units, according to property records.
County managers say Pearce’s proposal is not a “viable” option for the county, which is facing its worst budget crunch in decades. But Pearce, an Atlantis-based commercial real estate consultant, said today that she met with the building’s developer, The Related Group, earlier this month to discuss the idea.
“This building is sitting there and it could somehow be used for this convention center,” Pearce said.
The cost to the county could total as much as $108 million, although an exact figure won’t be available until the two sides sign a confidentiality agreement, according to Pearce’s proposal.
That’s a much higher price than the county faced under its previous attempt to build a hotel next to the convention center. The most recent proposal had called for the county to pay $46.1 million to build a parking garage, although the county was also providing the land and other incentives.
In a statement released today, The Related Group said it had no involvement in Pearce’s proposal.
“The only discussion we’ve had with this broker is her interest to purchase multiple units, and nothing more,” the developer said. “If the county feels that converting our property into a hotel is the right answer for the convention center, then I’m sure they will approach us directly.”
The idea of converting the building into a hotel has been proposed by several other people, the developer said. The interior of the building and its amenity deck were designed by global hotel design firm Hirsch Bedner Associates, known for its work with the Mandarin Oriental hotels in Miami, Washington and New York.
Assistant County Administrator Shannon LaRocque said it could cost a hotel company millions to remodel the building.
“The No. 1 issue is dollars and cents,” she said. “You got to have a hotel partner, and it has got to work financially.”
The county has spent more than four years working on a plan to build a hotel next to its convention center. Tourism officials say an adjacent hotel is critical to stemming the heavy losses the convention center continues to take for lack of business.
Last year, commissioners voted to scrap a deal with developer Ocean Properties to build a 400-room hotel and 104 condo units next to the convention center, and instead start looking for a new builder. In January, federal prosecutors cited ex-County Commissioner Mary McCarty’s cozy relationship with Ocean executives as one of numerous grounds for filing a corruption case against her.
County administrators plan to ask commissioners to sign off on a request for proposals for the hotel project in about 60 days.
Staff writer Jeff Ostrowski contributed to this story.
