30-story tower proposed in Denver's Uptown →

The group that owns the historic Mosque of the El Jebel Shrine at the southeast corner of 18th Avenue and Sherman Street has proposed a 30-story multifamily tower on a surface parking lot directly to the south, according to a concept plan submitted to the City of Denver.

The current owner of both the Temple, located at 1770 Sherman St., and the parking lot at 1750 Sherman St., is Denver Temple LLC, a special-purpose entity created by the leaders of Virginia-based AII Funds.

DMPT LP, another entity created by AII Funds, will be the sole equity holder of the project. Red Leaf Development LLC will be the general partner, according to David Roos, an executive at AII Funds and a manager of Red Leaf Development.

The roughly 0.4-acre parking lot at 1750 Sherman St. has long been eyed as a potential site for a tower project. In 2003, the then-owner of the property, Seventeen Seventy Sherman Street LLC, executed a development agreement with the City and County of Denver that would allow structures on the site to stretch as high as 650 feet.

Several development groups have signaled interest in bringing a project to the site over the years, including a partnership between The Bayrock Group and the Trump organization, which at one point had the site under contract, according to a report from the Colorado Real Estate Journal. That deal never went through.

In 2016, DMPT LP purchased the Temple and parking lot for $12.38 million, according to property records. DMPT transferred the property to Denver Temple LLC in December 2020, records show.

The latest proposed project would include 120 residential units and 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, according to the concept plan. Roos confirmed that the current plans call for rental units, rather than for-sale units.

Plans show the proposed building would consist of two- and three-bedroom units, ranging in size from 1,550 to 1,886 square feet. Floors 2-7 would be dedicated to a 175-space parking garage, with amenities on the ninth level.

The development group appears to be working with DLW Architects on the project.

AII Funds' website has teased plans for a 350-unit project on the site in the past, and previous plans submitted by DMPT in 2018 called for a 61-story building. But Roos said in an email that "current economic conditions" prompted the group to reduce the size of the project.

The five-story building at 1770 Sherman St. has been known by several names since it was completed in 1907. The National Register of Historic Places, in which the property has been listed since 1997, refers to it as the Mosque of the El Jebel Shrine, although it's also been referred to at times as the 1770 Sherman Street Event Complex, the Rocky Mountain Consistory and the Scottish Rite Temple.

As part of the 2003 development agreement, which has remained attached to the property, Historic Denver holds conservation easements for the exterior and interior of the building. The nonprofit, which is dedicated to the preservation of historic buildings in Denver, holds similar easements for many exteriors around the city. But an easement for the interior of a structure is a rarity, according to Historic Denver executive director Annie Levinsky.

The ownership group is currently carrying out renovations to the exterior of the historic building. The new tower would not impact the exterior of the existing structure.

"We are excited that the rehabilitation and development stage is beginning, as historic buildings need active use in order to remain vibrant and accessible to the community," Levinsky told Denver Business Journal in an email. "We’ve long known there might be adjacent new development, and will be engaged as the easement holder to ensure that the historic building remains intact and stable throughout."

Article published 26 January 2021

dlw Architects to oversee US$20m renovation for one of the 'dirtiest hotels in America' →

Once ranked as the third dirtiest hotel in the US by Forbes, the Desert Inn Resort on Daytona Beach in Florida is set to experience a complete US$20m (€17.4m, £13m) renovation before reopening in Q4 2016. The previously independent resort will then be rebranded as the Westin Daytona Beach Resort & Spa.

Owned by Humphrey Realty, a privately held real estate development and ownership firm specializing in hospitality and commercial projects, the restored property will house 200 bedrooms, 500ft (152.4m) of beachfront, an Olympic-size outdoor pool, 25,000sq ft (2,323sq m) of indoor and outdoor meeting space plus two bars and restaurants.

There will also be a 5,000sq ft (465sq m) spa at the property once the hotel’s exterior has been reconfigured and the interior has been redesigned by Florida-based DLW Architects.

The resort will be managed by Azul Hospitality Group – a preferred management company for Starwood Hotels & Resorts’ Westin brand.

Guests will be able to walk to shops and restaurants on the Daytona Boardwalk from the resort. The Daytona Beach Convention Center, Daytona International Speedway, LPGA International Golf Course and Peabody Auditorium are also nearby.

CLAD news for Architects, Designers, Investors & Developers

Article Published 26 August 2015

Six-story Hilton-branded hotel proposed in Homestead, Florida

A six-story Hilton Garden Inn has been proposed in Homestead.

Homestead Hospitality, an affiliate of Greensboro, North Carolina-based CN Hotels, wants to build a 130-room hotel at 2601 N.E. 9th Court, which is on the west side of Florida’s Turnpike near the Southwest 312th Street exit. According to an application with the city, Homestead Hospitality has the 2.6-acre site under contract from DDR Homestead, a subsidiary of Ohio-based DDR Corp. (NYSE: DDR), the owner of the neighboring Homestead Pavilion shopping center.

Holland & Knight attorney Tracy Slavens, who represents Homestead Hospitality, said the city’s Planning and Zoning Board approved the application July 12 and it’s scheduled for a City Council vote June 26.

The application estimates the cost of developing the Hilton Garden Inn at $9 million, with a timeline of 14 months.

Designed by DLW Architects, the hotel would total 76,632 square feet with two meeting rooms, a pool, a buffet and dining area, a lounge, a bar, a fitness center and public art. It would have 151 parking spaces.

The hotel would be reached from an access road to Northeast 10th Court/Kingman Road.

Brian Bandell  – Senior Reporter, South Florida Business Journal

Article Published 17 July 2017

New Wellness-Focused Hotel to Open Near Miami Airport

EVEN Hotels, the newest wellness-focused lifestyle brand from InterContinental Hotels Group, will open a new property in Miami on Jan. 13, 2019.

The EVEN Hotel Miami Airport is the brand’s first property in the southeastern U.S. and is designed to help wellness-minded travelers maintain their wellness routines and goals while away from home.

“We are very proud to be the only lifestyle wellness hotel in the Miami Airport area, and look forward to offering our guests a place where balance meets, and where we will focus on fitness and health for leisure and business travelers,” said Armando Hernandez, chief wellness officer of EVEN Hotel Miami Airport, in press materials.

The property consists of 190 guestrooms, and visitors looking to get in a good workout will find that all accommodations feature an in-room trainer, which includes a mounted fitness wall, resistance bands, an exercise ball, yoga mat, yoga block and more than 18 on-demand fitness videos. The EVEN Hotel Miami Airport also offers around-the-clock access to its Athletic Studio, an outdoor swimming pool, and same-day laundry service to wash those workout clothes. For guests who need to get some work done, accommodations will be equipped with ergonomic workstations and complimentary high-speed WiFi. When it comes time to sleep, the eucalyptus, natural fiber and high-thread count linens provide a cooling effect, while the headboards feature color LED mood lighting. The EVEN Hotel Miami Airport also offers a signature food and beverage concept, Cork & Kale, which will serve breakfast and dinner with with made-to-order options for all tastes, ranging from healthy to indulgent. The restaurant will also feature a full bar serving hand-crafted cocktails.

“Guests can expect a consistent and holistic wellness experience designed to meet their existing lifestyle needs, all while being conveniently located near the city’s top attractions and major points of interest,” said Hernandez in press materials.

For more information, visit evenhotels.com. If your clients are headed to Miami, you’ll also want to tell them about the Miami Temptations Program, which offers deals on dining, entertainment, and more all year round; get the details here.

Daytona Hard Rock named top North American hotel

By Jim Abbott
Posted Jan 25, 2019 at 3:18 PM

DAYTONA BEACH — Hard Rock Hotel hit another high note this week when the new beachside landmark was honored as the best family hotel/resort in the United States and Canada in the annual Travvy Awards, presented by the travel agent industry website travelpulse.com.

The Hard Rock, which celebrated its highly anticipated grand opening in May 2018, prevailed over The Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood, Fla., to receive the honor, among nearly 280 awards celebrated at a Wednesday ceremony in New York. The awards recognized excellence in 139 categories that include destinations, hotels and resorts, cruise lines and tour operators.

“The Travvy awards are considered to be the Oscars of hotel awards,” Androse Bell, Hard Rock general manager, told his staff in a congratulatory email on Thursday. “What an amazing award to sum up an excellent opening year!!!”

Hosted by travel industry communication and marketing company travAlliancemedia and its website travelpulse.com, the Travvy Awards are selected by the votes of thousands of travel agents worldwide. This year, more than 130,000 votes were cast, according to the company’s website.

“It’s a very prestigious award,” said Mark Bonn, tourism professor at Florida State University. “Travelpulse is an advertising company that connects the leisure travel brands — hotels, airlines, motor coaches, cruise lines — with travel agents, who then connect them to consumers.”

Several professors at the Rosen College of Hospitality Management at the University of Central Florida stated that they weren’t familiar with the awards. Meanwhile, Michael Terry, a Rosen associate instructor in lodging, hotel and restaurant branding, characterized awareness of the Travvys as being on the rise.

“They are working hard to make it a big award,” Terry said. “It’s not a big award right now, but they are working to make it that way.”

Nevertheless, area tourism leaders were basking in the glow of the Hard Rock’s latest accolade. In October, the hotel was awarded the coveted Four Diamond rating from AAA, a designation bestowed on only 6 percent of properties inspected annually by AAA.

“Awards are not something new to our area, but this feat for the Hard Rock is phenomenal,” said Bob Davis, president and CEO of the Lodging & Hospitality Association of Volusia County. “It just goes to show that Androse, their general manager, and the crew really, really work hard.”

The award is a major honor, said Abbas Abdulhussein, CEO of Daytona Beach-based Summit Hospitality Management Group, the developer that invested more than $40 million into the transformation of the building into the gleaming new rock ‘n’ roll-themed Hard Rock Hotel from its past-life as one of beachside’s most notorious hotels.

“You can see the level of competition,” he said. “We’re talking about The Diplomat and other renowned hotels. It’s great news for the Hard Rock and great news for Daytona Beach.”

Hilton-branded hotel breaks ground near Fort Lauderdale airport with $14M loan

A Tru by Hilton hotel has broken ground in Dania Beach, near Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

Miami-based Ocean Bank provided a $13.7 million construction loan to Dania Airport Hotels LLC, an affiliate of Hollywood-based AD1 Global, led by President Jose Daniel Berman. Axilla Capital’s Joel Mazur and Tom Fleming represented the borrower in securing the two-year, interest-only mortgage.

The 115-room hotel will rise six stories at 44 N. Federal Highway, which is just south of the airport and also close to Port Everglades. It’s just north of Dania Beach Boulevard, which leads to the ocean.  

“Tru by Hilton is an emerging hotel brand that has gathered substantial momentum,” Fleming said. “Dania Beach is an expanding market, and the hotel boasts a great location.”

The hotel will include wall-mounted TVs, platform beds with storage space below, signature “the Hive” lobby with 24-hour food and drinks available, a fitness center and a pool.

Market Construction Group is the general contractor. It was designed by DLW Architects.

By Brian Bandell  – Senior Reporter, South Florida Business Journal

Article Published Sep 12, 2018

Optimism abounds over plans for Dunedin Gateway project →

• By TOM GERMOND, TBN Correspondent

• Aug 28, 2020 Updated Aug 28, 2020

Renderings show a view from Main Street of a new mixed-use project for the Gateway area of Dunedin. The plan includes 80 apartment units, a 78-room boutique hotel and 17,200 square feet of retail, restaurant and food hall concepts anchored by a single-tenant restaurant on the west end with outdoor seating.

DUNEDIN — For many years, city officials have seen development ideas come and go for what's known as the Gateway property on the east end of town.

Now they are enthusiastic about a plan to build a project that emphasizes walkability, plazas, open spaces and upscale architecture.

The developer, Joe Kokolakis, and architect David Wallace outlined their concept for the 4.3-acre Gateway property Aug. 19 to city commissioners, who embraced the project and complimented the development team for their vision for the property.

The plan includes 80 apartment units, a 78-room boutique hotel and 17,200 square feet of retail, restaurant and food hall concepts anchored by a single-tenant restaurant on the west end with outdoor seating.

Artisan East Apartments are expected to sit over two floors of covered parking, with 123 spaces being open to the public, including the adjacent surface lots, and 178 spaces on the lower level reserved for hotel guess and residents.

City Manager Jennifer Bramley said the discussion that evening was the first step in a methodical approval process.

"This is obviously a very important project for the city of Dunedin — the gateway to our downtown," she said.

The proposed multimillion-dollar development is located roughly off Main Street, Milwaukee Avenue and Skinner Boulevard.

City officials said in memos that the project is checking all the right boxes, such as the scale and size is primarily four stories in keeping with the surrounding area. They also said Kokolakis, who lives in Dunedin, has a proven track record developing high-quality projects. Those include Artisan apartments and Nature’s Food Patch on Douglas Avenue and Stirling Common on Broadway.

Commissioner Moe Freaney said she was impressed by the project and the development team's efforts, such as on the restaurant, food court and retail component.

"Just your guys' focus on detail is amazing, over and over," she said.

The city was fortunate to have a developer like Kokolakis, she said, who has a proven track record.

"We see some of the crap all day long. Nothing against anybody immediately in our area," she said, "but I'm just saying in other cities you can see development that's not so good."

The project is expected to provide greenery, increases the tax base and create jobs. Hopes are that will act as a catalyst toward the revitalization of the east end of Main Street.

Renderings show a view from Main Street of a new mixed-use project for the Gateway area of Dunedin. The plan includes 80 apartment units, a 78-room boutique hotel and 17,200 square feet of retail, restaurant and food hall concepts anchored by a single-tenant restaurant on the west end with outdoor seating.

In discussing the project, the developers said they are not ready yet to name the anchor restaurant operators or the hotel company, which is a national chain, because agreements haven't been signed.

Hotel plans call for 3,083 square feet of meeting space. The dimensions were largely in response to county officials expressing a need in the north county for places to host meetings, Kokolakis said.

"I think it's going to be a great asset for Dunedin and Pinellas County," he said.

Later in the meeting, in response to a question from Mayor Julie Ward Bujalski, Kokolakis said that the meeting area could provide seating for 250 people.

"You rock," Bujalski said.

The rooftop will have a small space where the intent is for local musicians and artists to entertain guests of the hotel as well as the public.

Traffic and affordability

Commissioner Jeff Gow said with all the projects underway near the proposed development, he wants to make sure that city officials are keeping an eye on traffic levels in the downtown corridor.

Bramley said she will work with Kokolakis and engineers so that city officials know the exact impact of the project on the surrounding road network.

"We need to know those number of trips," she said.

Kokolakis said the developers are hoping that whether it’s with ride-share programs, dedicated dropoff areas and its proximity to Mease Dunedin Hospital, their goal is to mitigate traffic impacts and hopefully having people who live there be able to walk across the street to go to work.

"Thank you, Joe," Gow said. "That's my goal as well."

Though he was pleased with what he had seen of the project that night, calling it a "gorgeous concept," Gow asked whether some features of the project could be less "bright and shiny" to make the apartments more affordable.

Kokolakis said since the project is in the Gateway area, he believes it is compatible with the buildings around it, such as the hospital and a large retirement home, and residents are willing to pay for amenities such as a gym, resident lounge, and swimming pool.

"We have proven there is a demand for this level in Dunedin," he said.

Developers say they are bringing in a new neighborhood into the downtown core with easy access to public transit but within walking distance to restaurants, bars, coffee shops, museums, parks, art centers and the waterfront marina.

Commissioner Heather Gracy was pleased with the public access aspects of the project, its local flavor and the Artisan brand, which Kokolakis used for the apartments on Douglas Avenue.

"The minimalness you brought to us I think gives us a clean, very open feel. And then any and all landscape you can add to that makes it that much better. It's very pleasing to the eye," she said.

Gracy said she can't wait to see the project proceed through the advisory boards' review.

Commissioner Deborah Kynes said she loved that the Gateway project calls for a boutique hotel and that developers are working with a Boy Scout troop and nearby apartment residents to conserve a half-acre parcel of the Gateway for a pocket park.

"I think it's going to be another true component to Dunedin," she said. "I think that when people go there it will call them to go on and walk down to the marina to the west. I think it's an excellent project," Kynes said.

Bujalski said the developers have created a formula in the contents of the project.

"The formula is of all the pieces of what's in this project will keep itself successful. But then it will blossom and keep the east end successful," she said.

She said all commissioners were doing that evening was giving the project their blessing and discussing a development agreement at their next meeting, but she asked that more pictures of the project be presented.

Bramley added that at the Sept. 3 meeting, commissioners will be asked to authorize city officials to negotiate a development agreement with Kokolakis and his associates. Several other steps will have to be taken before the commission delves into the design review.

The Gateway site has been planned for development since city officials bought the property in 2004 for $2.1 million for either a consolidated government center or mixed-use redevelopment. They have had numerous discussions about it.

Both the city and Gateway Dunedin LCC — the development company — own adjoining parcels of Gateway land and over the last year or so have been working toward the goal of a unified development plan, city memos say.

New hotel planned for Huntsville

Huntsville will get its first Hyatt Place in 2019.

A new hotel is in the works for the Rocket City.

Hyatt Hotels Corp. plans to build a Hyatt Place at the Bridge Street Town Center in Huntsville, reports AL.com.

The four-story building with 131 rooms is set to open January 2019.

Tampa, Florida-based DLW Architects is the architect on record.

Birmingham has two Hyatt Place hotels located in Inverness and Hoover. This will be the first Hyatt Place in Huntsville.

By Hanno van der Bijl  – Real Estate Reporter, Birmingham Business Journal

Article Published Oct 30, 2017