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1655-6 African American/Blacks mh PEEBLES TAKES PLACE IN THE SUN 01/13/2002 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 2002, The Miami Herald DATE: Sunday, January 13, 2002 EDITION: Broward SECTION: Broward PAGE: 1B LENGTH: 158 lines ILLUSTRATION: color photo: R. Donahue Peebles (a) ; photo: Jesse Stewart Jr. and Velton Showell III and Gaston Smith and Elaine Robinson and George Taule and Flavio Andrade (a) SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: By CARA BUCKLEY, cbuckley@herald.com PEEBLES TAKES PLACE IN THE SUN Five years after netting the deal, eight years after the 1,000-day black tourist boycott of Miami was lifted, R. Donahue Peebles has finally made good on his promise to build a black-owned hotel in Miami Beach. ' 'The opening of our hotel allows Miami-Dade to say to the African-American community, locally and nationally, that a promise was made and a promise is being kept, " said Peebles, 41, president of Peebles Atlantic Development Corp. and majority owner of the Royal Palm Crowne Plaza. The hotel, scheduled to open early next month, will be the country's first black-owned luxury resort, a lure that already has snared the NAACP's 2003 conference. —African-American groups will look for that kind of property, " said Bill Talbert, president of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau. "We have it. Nobody else has it. " Still, Peebles has a challenging task ahead of him. Tourism is in the doldrums, and opening any hotel right now is tough. And Peebles, a seasoned real-estate developer, has seen his ambitious foray into building hotels founder in all but two cases. But despite mixed success, Peebles, his voice booming, swagger intact, insists that the Royal Palm will be a winner. "This hotel is a cornerstone and a foundation, " he said. "It's a great statement and great accomplishment. There should be more hotels like mine. " Gleaming in fresh coats of white and buttercup yellow paint, with chunky Art Deco nuances poking out here and there, the Royal Palm blends seamlessly into the Beach's parade of refurbished hotels. Made up of two Art Deco hotels, the old Royal Palm and the Shorecrest, the new 422-room Royal Palm sprawls between the beachfront and Collins Avenue just north of 15th Street, yet another hotel in SoBe's hotel row. But deeper currents make this hotel one of a kind. The hotel's construction was pivotal in a 20-point plan, drafted and agreed upon by activists, city officials and lodging executives, that ended the black tourist boycott of Miami in 1993. The protest was triggered by city officials' decision to not meet with visiting South African leader Nelson Mandela in 1990. Cuban-American leaders were angered by Mandela's support of Fidel Castro, and Jewish leaders were upset by his support of Yasser Arafat and the Palestine Liberation Organization. BOYCOTT COSTLY The boycott badly tarnished Miami's reputation and cost the county an estimated $20 million to $50 million in lost convention business and tourist dollars. But the boycott also yielded good. One example was the creation of the Visitor Industry Council, whose purpose is to expand African-American participation in the county's tourism industry through mentorship programs and - scholarships. Another was the Royal Palm, the initiative's crown jewel. "This was the prize, " said Stu Blumberg, president of the Greater Miami & the Beaches Hotel Association. "It was the last one to be finished, but it was the first one on the list. " The city of Miami Beach provided a $10 million loan to build the hotel, an amount Peebles said was gobbled up by unforeseen budget increases. He has 25 years to pay it back, on top of $490, 000 in annual rent, plus 20 percent of any gross over $17 million each year for the next decade. "When you look at the net impact, " said Peebles, "the Royal Palm has not been subsidized by the city. " City of Miami Beach officials said they fulfilled their side of the bargain, and said they wish the hotel had opened sooner. "It's been a construction site for much longer than anyone anticipated, " City Manager Jorge Gonzalez said. "He bought the property 'as is. ' If there were unforeseen conditions within that, those become the responsibility of the buying party, Peebles. " In 1998, Peebles boasted that he would build about 10, 000 rooms in 20 hotels coast-to-coast within five years. Two hotels resulted - a Marriott Courtyard in Washington, D.C., and now the Royal Palm - but not the others, including a calamitous convention-center hotel deal in Broward County and a hotel at the New Orleans International Airport. Peebles said his focus is back on real-estate development, a business he was schooled in by his mother, Yvonne Poole, whose real-estate appraisal company he joined in Washington, D.C. Poole also introduced her son to a crucial ally, former Washington Mayor Marion Barry, who appointed Peebles, then 23, to a powerful property tax assessment board. A skilled orator and dogged debater, Peebles went on to represent, successfully, commercial property owners, as well as himself. The call for a black-owned hotel drew him to Miami Beach. His successful bid on the high-profile project stimulated his appetite for the hotel business. FOCUS ON NORTHEAST The city required that a quarter of the hotel 's executives be African American, a figure that Peebles said he has surpassed. The hotel will target groups and leisure travelers from the Northeast, according to its manager, Jesse Stewart. Industry insiders say the hotel will easily draw a good chunk of the African-American tourism market, worth $36 billion last year. {fl "It's a good flag, a great address, an upscale brand that has a loyal following certainly within the corporate market, " said Scott Berman, a hospitality analyst. "But recession or no recession, the first year of any hotel operation is the most difficult. " Unnerved by the economy's straits, hotel lenders have gone into hiding, and financing has all but dried up. According to Standard & Poor's Corp. , delinquency rates on hotels' mortgage payments doubled to 3.8 percent in the fourth quarter of last year. In Florida, 13 percent of hotel loans with collateral were delinquent. $50 MILLION DEBT Peebles said he'll be able to service the hotel's debt, about $50 million of the total $84 million price tag, adding up to a debt-to-cost ratio of about 60 percent. "That debt-to-cost ratio is good, " said Chase Burritt, an analyst with Ernst & Young. "It means a hotel can withstand the downturns like we're having now. " And Peebles' lenders said they are resolute. "Despite the negative impact that the terrorist attacks had on the lodging industry, we feel that this property in particular has a very bright future ahead of it, " said Michael Leonard, senior vice president of real-estate lending for Union Planters Bank. "Our support for Don and the project is unwavering. " Peebles said he expects to gross $30 million the first year, and said that despite the economic climate, average opening rates for his rooms will. approach $200 a night. Beachfront cabanas will fetch the most, with rack rates ranging from $550 in the summer to $659 during the peak season. The Royal Palm has teamed up with the 800-room Loews to form a 1,222-room block that will go head-to-head with the 1,206-room Fontainebleau Hilton for large meetings. Peebles said his hotel's and the Loews ' edge will be their location in the heart of South Beach, a two-block walk to the million-square-foot Miami Beach Convention Center. African Americans in the tourism industry said the hotel's history and luxury billing will serve as a beacon. The bottom line is it's breaking the barriers of an exclusive club, " said Andy Ingraham, president of Horizons Marketing Group and head of the National Association of Black Hotel Owners and Developers. "In addition to being in a high-traffic area, it's one of the first joint ventures between a major hotel company and an African-American company. It's a new frontier. " STATUS OF JOBS According to Ingraham, who tracks African American employment in the hotel industry, black workers hold between 30 percent and 35 percent of hotel entry-level positions, but there are fewer than 60 black executives in the nation's 30,000 full-service hotels. Fewer still are owners. Just 36 of the nation's 80,000 limited- and full-service hotels are black-owned, Ingraham found, along with about 40 smaller inns. "For African Americans, owning in the hotel industry has been an elusive dream, " he said. —The largest impediment has been access to capital. " Times are changing, slowly. Robert L. Johnson, founder and chief executive officer of Black Entertainment Television, owns nine hotels within his RLJ Development group. Former National Football League player Donnell Thompson's hospitality group owns six hotels and is developing a seventh. But Peebles is the first African American to build an $84 million hotel. And all eyes will be on him. "The proof will be in the pudding whether he can deliver a quality product, " said Gerry Fernandez, president of the Providence, R.I.-based MultiCultural Foodservice & Hospitality Alliance. If he is successful, others will point and say, 'I can do that. ' " CAPTION: MARSHA HALPER/HERALD STAFF SUNNY SIDE UP: R. Donahue Peebles, majority owner of Royal Palm Crowne Plaza, enjoys an ocean-view deck at the soon-to-open Miami Beach hotel. IN CHARGE: The Royal Palm Crowne Plaza's executive staff lines a stairway at the nearly completed South Beach hotel. From left, general manager Jesse Stewart Jr., Velton Showell III, Gaston Smith, Elaine Robinson, George Taule and Flavio Andrade. KEYWORDS: TAG: 0201160429 13 of 36, 23 Terms mh TWO HOTEL DEALS OKD 09/25/1996 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 1996, The Miami Herald DATE: Wednesday, September 25, 1996 EDITION: Final -.. SECTION: Business PAGE: 11B LENGTH: 24 lines ILLUSTRATION: photo: R, Donahue Peebles (a) SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: Herald Staff Report TWO HOTEL DEALS OKD R. Donahue Peebles announced this week that he has received a binding $31 million loan commitment from Capital Bank to finance development of both the Royal Palm Crowne Plaza Resort and the Shorecrest Crowne Plaza Suite Hotel in Miami Beach. The 270-room Royal Palm will get $13.5 million, and the 155-unit all suite Shorecrest will get $17.5 million. The hotels, in the 1500 block of Collins Avenue, are scheduled to open September 1998. The arrangement "allows us to cross the last remaining financial hurdle" and start construction as soon as a final agreement is signed with Miami Beach, Peebles said. Ocean Bank, which had given a $12 million commitment for the Royal Palm, is joining Capital Bank as a co-lender, he said. In June, the Miami Beach commission awarded Peebles the rights to develop the hotel. The city is offering $10 million in incentives as part of the accord that ended the black tourism boycott of 1993. KEYWORDS: BLACK HOTEL STATISTIC TAG: 9610032333 29 of 36, 6 Terms mh DECO SHORECREST HOTEL 06/20/1996 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 1996, The Miami Herald DATE: Thursday, June 20, 1996 EDITION: FINAL SECTION: NEIGHBORS MB PAGE: 3 LENGTH: 67 lines ILLUSTRATION: photo: Artist's rendering of the Shorecrest Hotel after restoration (a) SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: RICK JERVIS Herald Staff Writer DECO SHORECREST HOTEL REBORN BESIDE NEIGHBORS The developer is chosen, the deal is sealed and Miami Beach is on its way to becoming one of the first U.S. cities to develop an African-American owned hotel. But a lingering question remains: What will happen to the neighboring Shorecrest Hotel? The three-story Art Deco hotel at 1535 Collins Ave. sits next to the old Royal Palm Hotel, which will soon turn into the lavish African-American owned Royal Crowne Plaza. Washington-based developer R. Donahue Peebles, who won the rights to develop the Royal Palm, has a contract to buy the Shorecrest for $5 million. Peebles initially proposed a time-sharing condominium for the site, but city officials opposed that. Instead, the 106-room oceanfront Shorecrest will he turned into a 152-suite hotel, preserving the front facade and lobby. "What attracted me to the project was its location, " Peebles said. "Being sandwiched in between all that development makes it just an incredible location. " Sandwiched indeed. The Shorecrest's entire block is slated for massive redevelopment. Directly to the north will rise the Peebles-led Royal Crowne Plaza; north of that will be the Loews convention center hotel; directly south on Collins will be the luxurious Michael Graves condominiums; and another block south the Il Villaggio condominiums are under construction. Peebles said he first became interested in the Shorecrest while looking for a three-bedroom vacation condo on the beach for his wife and 2-year-old son late last year. He didn't find a condo, but a Herald article on New Year's Eve prompted him to the Shorecrest Hotel, which led him to the African-American project next door. The bid proposal on the African-American project gave some consideration to ownership of the Shorecrest, Peebles said, which made his determination to buy that much greater. He bought it. Arquitectonica, a local architect firm, was hired to draw up the plans to convert the Shorecrest while preserving the front western entrance of the building in a $22 million restoration. Peebles said he is also negotiating with Motown Cafe, a Motor-City-motif restaurant already in New York and Las Vegas, to open in the lobby. "We're keeping an eye on the entire thing, " said Randall Robinson, historic preservation director for the Miami Design Preservation League. MDPL recommended the Peebles' proposal for the African- American hotel project in May. "The Shorecrest is no less important than any other building in the district, " Robinson said. The Shorecrest was built as an 80-room hotel in 1940 and designed by the architectural firm of Keihnel and Elliot, creators of the Carlyle Hotel. But the hotel has since seen tough times. Plagued by drug pushers, prostitutes and crime, some of the hotel's residents have lost hope and say they wouldn't mind moving out. "This is the nightmare hotel, " resident Susan Broder, 30, said. "You see hookers, garbage in the alleys, frequent drug dealing. I want to leave this building." Owner Cyrus Mehr declined to comment. Soon the $45-a-day efficiencies will give way to $178-a- night suites, including poolside cabana suites and 750- square-foot, ocean-view alcoves. CUTLINES: BIG PLANS: An artist's rendering of the hotel's $22 million restoration, which will preserve the front western entrance of the building. TAG: 960209,0689 32 of 36, 20 Terms mh IN HOTEL SELECTION, MONEY WINS OVER BEAUTY 06/06/1996 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 1996, The Miami Herald DATE: Thursday, June 6, 1996 EDITION: FINAL SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: 1B LENGTH: 78 lines SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: HENRI E. CAUVIN Herald Staff Writer IN HOTEL SELECTION, MONEY WINS OVER BEAUTY Voting for dollars over design, the Miami Beach Commission on Wednesday moved forward with its plan for a black- owned hotel, narrowly selecting the proposal that promises the best financial return for the city. In a long-awaited decision, the seven commissioners selected developer R. Donahue Peebles' plan to construct a 15- story, 252-room Crowne Plaza hotel on Collins Avenue in South Beach over two other finalists. The promise of a black-owned hotel on the Beach was a crucial element in the accord that ended the three-year black tourism boycott of Greater Miami in 1993. Wednesday's vote marked one of the most significant steps yet toward fulfilling that promise. "I think Miami is showing the entire world that it's serious when it says you can come here and you can get a fair chance and that if you work hard and put together a good proposal, you can succeed, " Peebles said afterward. Now, the 36-year-old Peebles, a real estate developer and appraiser in Washington, D.C. , will begin negotiating a lease with the city. Miami Beach is providing $10 million in financing and owns the hotel site north of 15th Street. The competition to build the hotel could not have been any keener. In the commissioners' scoring, Peebles ' edged the second- ranked Hyatt proposal by just one point and the third-ranked Wyndham proposal by just two points. No proposal received more than three first-place votes, and a shift in one commissioner's vote could have made Wyndham the winner. "The difference was infinitesimal, " said Commissioner David Pearlson, who franked the Hyatt proposal first and the Crowne Plaza proposal second. "I'd be proud to work with any of the three groups. " What ultimately swayed the decision, commissioners said, was Peebles' financial package, in particular the rent the city will receive. Peebles' more lucrative proposal calls for the city to receive about $490, 000 in base rent each year along with 20 percent of the hotel's gross revenues over $11 million. Peebles also has committed to opening his hotel about the same time as the Loews hotel planned for a site one block north. The two hotels, which together will create more than 1,000 new hotel rooms, are part of an effort to bring more business for the city's struggling convention center, which is losing more than $1 million a year. In winning, Peebles ' proposal overcame a second-place ranking by the citizens committee that screened seven proposals in April. In that review, the Hyatt proposal, put together by radio and cable television entrepreneur Eugene Jackson, was ranked first by one point, based largely on its more subtle design. The Wyndham proposal, put together by Baltimore developer Otis Warren, was ranked third, several points behind the Peebles project. Designed by the famed South Beach firm Arquitectonica, the $30 million Crowne Plaza will feature a tropical style and will be more flamboyant than the $56 million Hyatt would have been. Like the Hyatt proposal, the Crowne Plaza will rise behind the Shorecrest and Royal Palm hotels and will preserve the facades of those two historic hotels. Though it lost the design competition among the members of the citizens committee, the Crowne Plaza was endorsed by the Miami Design Preservation League. Wednesday was not the first time the Beach Commission had been down this road. For more than a year, the city tried to complete an agreement with the HCF Group, a consortium of local investors, to build the hotel. But HCF couldn't come up with adequate financing, and last December, the city reopened the bidding process. Seven bidders came forward, and the screening committee pared that group to three. Any of the finalists, each backed by a multimillionaire principal, could complete the project, a luxury that was not lost on the decision makers. Indeed, the commission made it clear before and after its vote that should the top-ranked proposal falter, the city would move to the second-ranked proposal and, if necessary, to the third-ranked proposal. Not every commissioner agreed that financial considerations should weigh so heavily. Nancy Liebman, who is the commission's most passionate voice on historic preservation, argued that since all of the proposals appeared financially viable, the key consideration should be architecture and aesthetics. They will be the project's longest-lasting legacy, she said. TAG: 9602060415 33 of 36, 10 Terms mh WASHINGTON MOVER SHAKES UP THE BEACH 06/03/1996 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 1996, The Miami Herald DATE: Monday, June 3, 1996 EDITION: FINAL SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: 7BM LENGTH: 165 lines ILLUSTRATION: photo: R. Donahue Peebles, (a) , model of their proposed Royal Palm Crowne Plaza Resort (a) SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: DALE K. DUPONT Herald Business Writer MEMO: PROFILE WASHINGTON MOVER SHAKES UP THE BEACH The way R. Donahue Peebles saw it, the numbers spoke for themselves. "I was blown away we were ranked No. 2. We had the best- financed team, " Peebles told the Miami Beach City Commission last week during an occasionally tense presentation about the hotel project he'd like to build. "We were ranked No. 1 in every financial category. We' re the only team that has a firm, legally binding loan commitment. We can put our money where our mouth is." Peebles was in familiar territory. He knows numbers and government well. For 17 years, he has operated in Washington, D.C., as a real estate appraiser, property tax appeal specialist and commercial property owner. He and his team are in the running to build a major black- owned hotel in South Beach. Another development group narrowly won the first round of the competition -- the five- member review panel's one-point scoring edge was based on design. The commission is expected to make a final decision Wednesday. Though an unfamiliar face in South Florida, Peebles is well-known in the nation's capital. A political fund-raiser for local and national Democratic candidates, he is referred to in the Washington press as a friend and protege of D.C. Mayor Marion Barry. But in the last election, Peebles said, he supported another candidate. At 36, he's described as sharp, charming, skillful and ambitious. His business and political ventures have made news. Brian Connolly, managing director of Faison Associates, a large owner and operator of commercial real estate in a triangle that includes Florida, Dallas and the District of Columbia, said Peebles has been a force in the downtown Washington marketplace for years. Peebles, a "politically savvy individual, " knows how the city and federal governments operate and could "take that knowledge and parlay it into some opportunities, " Connolly said. Big plans for the Beach • Peebles estimates his net worth at more than $30 million and figures he started his first project with an initial investment of $30, 000. Married and with a 2-year-old son, he recently moved out of Washington to the wealthy Maryland suburb of Potomac. He left "because I felt my tax dollars were not being well-spent. It wasn't a place where the quality of life was improving." The investment team he put together for the 252-room, $30 million Royal Palm Crowne Plaza Resort includes Clarence Avant, chairman of Motown Records; Cecil Barker, founder of the Maryland-based Orbiting Astronomical Observation, an information systems company; Jeffrey Earl Thompson, president of Thompson, Cobb, Bazilio & Associates, a public accounting firm in Washington; and the HCF group, made up of four local investors. HCF was awarded the rights to the project in 1994 but lost them when it couldn't get financing. Peebles said he is putting in over $1 million himself. "I have never sold a commercial real estate asset, " he told the commission. "I have never defaulted on a loan. I 'm a long- term player in the real estate business." • Miami Beach is offering $10 million in incentives for the project, which is part of the accord that ended the black tourism boycott of 1993. In addition to the financing, Peebles stressed his proposal had "100 percent African-American ownership, which we believe responds to the spirit of the project, " and would provide a better return to the city. Whether he wins the hotel rights or not, Peebles said he would like to develop other local projects. He has a vacation residence in Miami Beach, and while visiting over the Christmas holidays drove up and down Collins Avenue, looking at property. "I have no hobbies, " Peebles said. "What I do in my spare time is look at properties." The Shorecrest question One that caught his eye was the Shorecrest, a neighboring property to the Royal Palm site, both on the 1500 block of Collins. The city owns the Royal Palm site, but Shorecrest is privately owned. In negotiating over the Shorecrest, Peebles said the topic of the Royal Palm hotel project came up. He thought he was well- suited for it, he said. In addition to the 252-room Royal Palm, Peebles has proposed a 152-room all-suite tower on the Shorecrest site. "You're getting two hotels for the price of one with us, " he told the commission. Peebles said he has a contract to purchase the Shorecrest for $5 million, ith an Oct. 1 closing date. He said he intends to develop the property. But if he doesn't win the Royal Palm bid, then there's room to talk. "If the city really needs the land, and they have an appropriate use, and they're willing to pay me a fair price for the property, then I'm sure we'll be able to work something out, " Peebles said. He and Mayor Seymour Gelber had an uneasy exchange over the Shorecrest and whether his ownership would stymie another hotel project that might want both sites. Peebles said he didn't want to be a spoiler. "Any one of those teams could have gone out and bought it, " he said. "Why am I the bad person? My objective is to win it fairly on the merits." "You are hanging the sword of Damocles over our head, " Gelber said. "We' re in America, and T bought some property fair and square, " Peebles said. Jimmy Wilson, an economic development consultant in Hunt Valley, Md. , said Peebles' purchase of the Shorecrest site "was a very smart move" because the land is crucial for developing the property. Wilson, who worked for the Rouse company and was in charge of leasing Bayside in Miami, also praised the possibility of a "Motown Cafe" on the site. "When I found out somebody aligned himself with Motown, I thought that was smart, too, " he said. Real estate and politics Motown chief Avant said he's known Peebles for seven or eight years. They met through mutual friends in Washington. When Peebles told him about the hotel project, "I listened, " Avant said. "I think it's interesting. It's something certainly Afro-Americans should be concerned about in terms of an investment. " Peebles did his homework, Avant said, sending him reams of documents on the project. "I believe in him, " Avant said. "He's a very nice guy." Peebles' first taste of real estate and politics came early. His mother was in the real estate business, and during his last two years of high school, he was a page on Capitol Hill, where he met local and national politicians. He attended college briefly. His mother was also on the city's tax appeals hoard until 1980. The year before, he said, he began working as an appraiser. The real estate market had soured, "so appraisal was the way to have a good income stream, " Peebles said. "Valuation is the key to understanding real estate development projects." Several years later, Mayor Marion Barry appointed him to the board. Peebles started his first commercial office project in 1987 with the promise of a long-term lease from the city. Peebles says he now has more than one million square feet of commercial office space in over a dozen properties in D.C. The properties are in limited partnerships and various stages of development. "I made my money developing office buildings, " Peebles said. Another lucrative endeavor was a tax assessment appeals business Peebles started after he left the board as chairman in 1988. A player in Miami? Among the people he helped with appeals was Nick Antonelli, a Washington real estate and parking magnate. "Myself and some friends of mine gave him a lot of work to do, " Antonelli said. Asked how much Peebles saved him, Antonelli said, "Quite a bit. He got things down to the honest level. " Antonelli called Peebles "an honest, up-front guy" and said he "joined him in a couple of real estate deals. " Ir An article in The Washington Post last year said Peebles "has made a name for himself as the man to see to lower your D.C. tax assessment" and said he was "generally regarded as one of the most influential businessmen around." In their recent book Dream City (--) Race, Power and the Decline of Washington, D.C. , Harry S. Jaffe and Tom Sherwood have a reference to Peebles in 1986 that describes him as "an aspiring young wheeler-dealer the mayor had appointed to the influential real estate tax review commission." Barry's office did not respond to a written request for an interview. As a business person, Peebles ,is a "smaller niche player in the marketplace, " Connolly said. His niche: "opportunities dealing with the public sector. " Peebles' properties are in "decent, good business neighborhoods, but older buildings in need of rehabilitation, " Connolly said. Peebles said he also is looking outside Washington for projects. He said the hotel "is going to be a profitable venture. " After Peebles was peppered with questions by the commission last week, Arthur Courshon, head of the Miami Beach hotel negotiating committee, got up to ask some more. In the midst of the talk about parking and finances was this brief volley: "If you are the winner, you and I are going to have a very interesting time negotiating, " Courshon said. " "I'm looking forward to it, " Peebles replied. "So am I," said Courshon. Herald researchers Mike Clark and Ruth Golden contributed to this report. cutlines CHUCK FADELY / Herald Staff RISING HIGH: R. Donahue Peebles, above, and his team are competing to build a major black-ownedhotel on South Beach. The model of their proposed Royal Palm Crowne Plaza Resort, above right. KEYWORDS: BIOGRAPHY PEEBLES TAG: 9602060249 34 of 36, 48 Terms mh HYATT TEAM 05/09/1996 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 1996, The Miami Herald DATE: Thursday, May 9, 1996 EDITION: FINAL SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: 1B LENGTH: 70 lines ILLUSTRATION: photo: Roy Palm HYATT (Color) ; map: Royal Palm Hotel SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: PETER WHORISKEY Herald Architecture Writer HYATT TEAM HOTEL PLAN IN 1ST PLACE The first round of the competition to build a major black- owned hotel on South Beach was narrowly won Wednesday by a team that proposes a 330-room, $56 million Hyatt by the ocean. "I'm elated to be building the first major African-American hotel in the United States, " said Eugene Jackson, one of the principals of the winning team and chairman of Unity Broadcasting Network. "They don't exist otherwise. This is it." The decisive factor in favor of the Hyatt plan was its design, which allowed it to edge out a Crowne Plaza proposal that had financial advantages. The city of Miami Beach, which sponsored the competition, is offering $10 million in incentives for the project. The idea for a black-owned hotel grew out of the :black tourism boycott and the 20-point accord that settled it in 1993. On Wednesday, a five-member city review panel ranked the seven hotel proposals submitted by black teams, basing their decisions on the architecture, financial viability and how much the hotel would pay to rent the city-owned site. The City Commission, which must approve the review panel's decision, is expected to vote next month. "The commission is inclined to respect the panel's decision, but I'm sure there will be more examination of the top bidders, " said City Commissioner Neisen Kasdin. "The voting, I understand, was very close." In fact, Crowne Plaza's second-ranked proposal lost by just one point. That team, led by R. Donahue Peebles, a Washington, D.C. , real estate developer, proposed a 252-room, $30 million hotel. "I thought we had it, " Peebles said. "We are better in terms of African-American ownership, the financing and the return to the city. As far as architecture -- well, that is subjective." The Crowne Plaza development team is 100 percent black- owned, Peebles said. The Hyatt team is 78 percent black. A financial analysis of the proposals by Tishman Hotel Corp. , performed at the q city's request, by couple that at least a cou le of measures, the Crowne Plaza is a better deal for the city than the Hyatt. The Crowne Plaza team proposes to pay $490,000 annually in base rent; the Hyatt team proposes to pay nothing the first year, $100,000 the third year and so on, sliding up year by year to $500,000 in the 26th year. But the panel's architectural review favored the Hyatt. Rocco Ceo, a professor at the University of Miami, and Vincent Scully, noted architectural historian, both praised the Hyatt design for its sensitivity to the surrounding neighborhood. The Hyatt hotel would rise behind the historic Shorecrest and Royal Palm hotels, in the 1500 block of Collins Avenue, and incorporate the old buildings into the design. It also preserves a pathway from Collins Avenue to the beach. Designed by Nichols Brosch Sandoval, the Hyatt is intended to look like a modern building with Deco flourishes. What distinguished the Hyatt, Ceo said, was "the overall architectural fit of the Hyatt into the historic district." Both Ceo and Scully ranked the Crowne Plaza the second of the seven proposals in terms of architecture. That design, by Arquitectonica, was conceived of as "a village" of modern buildings behind the historic hotels, also preserving both. This design would have terminated the view down Ocean Drive with a soaring tower of glass topped by palm trees, a contemporary icon of the tropics. "Architecture played an important role in the deliberations, " said Assistant City Manager Harry Mavrogenes, "as it should. " Herald staff writer Rick Jervis contributed to this report. CUTLINES: A SOUTH BEACH LOOK: Design for 330-room, $56 million Hyatt. TAG: 9601300459 35 of 36, 4 Terms mh INVESTORS BID FOR BLACK-OWNED HOTEL 04/01/1996 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 1996, The Miami Herald DATE: Monday, April 1, 1996 EDITION: FINAL SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: 1B LENGTH: 84 lines ILLUSTRATION: photo: Eugene JACKSON, R.Donahue PEEBLES (color) SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: TONY PUGH Herald Staff Writer INVESTORS BID FOR BLACK-OWNED HOTEL An Atlanta media magnate, a Washington, D.C. , real estate developer and the president of Motown Records are among a new slate of investors who will compete for the rights to build a black-owned hotel in Miami Beach. By the time today's 4 p.m. bidding deadline passes, city officials expect to receive up to six proposals to develop the project, a luxury hotel in the 1500 block of Collins Avenue. It would complement an 830-room Loews Hotel planned directly to the north, at 16th Street and Collins Avenue. On the drawing board for nearly three years, the black- owned hotel project was the major objective of a 20-point accord that helped resolve the black tourism boycott in 1993. The city later agreed to put up $10 million toward the project. But the effort stalled when four local investors, known as the HCF Group, couldn't secure financing and lost the project development rights last December. This time, Arthur Courshon, head of the city's hotel negotiating committee, said he expects to see bidders who are stronger financially. "Now they know it's for real, " Courshon said. "They know Loews is going to be next door, and they know the city will put their money where their mouth is. " Several local entrepreneurs are rumored to be interested in the project, but television talk show queen Oprah Winfrey squashed speculation about her involvement. "Several developers have approached me, " Winfrey stated, "but I 'm not interested in going into the hotel business. " The Herald has learned that Eugene Jackson, Atlanta-based chairman and president of Unity Broadcasting Network, and R. Donahue Peebles, a Washington, D.C. , real estate developer, will submit bids on the project. Jackson has teamed with Hyatt Hotels on a $56 million, 330-room proposal that would encompass two sites -- the old Shorecrest Hotel at 1535 Collins Ave. and the Royal Palm Hotel at 1688 Meridian Ave. Peebles is working with the Crowne Plaza Hotels on a $28 million, 252-room hotel on the Royal Palm site. Peebles already plans to convert the Shorecrest into a $22 million, 100-unit condominium complex. If he gets the nod for the hotel project, Peebles said condo owners at the Shorecrest site would have access to the hotel's public amenities, such as the health club and room service. The owner of the R. Donahue Peebles Co. , Peebles owns more than one million square feet of commercial space in the D.C. area. His hotel ownership group is made up of all blacks and includes: Clarence Avant, president of Motown Records; former project developers, the HCF Group; Jeffrey Earl Thompson, president of Thompson, Cobb, Bazilio & Associates public accounting firm in Washington, D.C. , and Cecile Barker, founder of Maryland-based Orbiting Astronomical Observation, an information systems company. The ownership group has a combined net worth of nearly $120 million, Peebles said. A local bank has granted final approval for financing, and two others have issued commitment letters to finance the project. "Our team, if successful in winning the bid, can break ground immediately," Peebles said. Negotiations to include a "Motown Cafe, " at the hotel are ongoing, he added. Jackson's ownership teams consists of himself, Hyatt Hotels, local real estate developer Marc Kovens, owner of Kovens Enterprises of Miami Beach and Mark Ellert, an executive with M. Kovens Development of Coral Gables. Jackson also plans to make a portion of his 51 percent ownership available to local black investors, since the local boycott was the catalyst for the project. If selected, the venture would be the first for Jackson's new company, World Hotels and Resorts. Jackson hopes the company can put together similar projects in other cities around the world. "I 've had a strong interest in hotels for quite a long time, " Jackson said. This is the second time Jackson has submitted a proposal on the project. In 1994, he withdrew a bid to develop the Eden Roc Hotel as the project's black-owned venture when the owners refused to sell the property. Jackson said they decided to hold onto the hotel, thinking they could turn it into a casino if a legalized gambling initiative passed. Voters defeated the measure in 1994. Nicholas Pritzker, president of Hyatt Development, said he's excited about locating on Miami Beach and working with Jackson. "He is an astute entrepreneur who has assembled a strong team for this effort. Because of our confidence in him and this venture, we' re joining him as an equity partner as well as operator. " Courshon said city officials will take about a week to make sure the bids • meet specifications the city has outlined for the project. After that, the bids will be evaluated and solid financing will figure prominently in the final selection. "That's going to be looked at real hard going in, " Courshon said. TAG: 9601220258 36 of 36, 12 Terms Transfer complete. Press [RETURN] to return to Menu: Type first letter of feature OR type help for list of commands FIND MOD PRT S-DB DB OPT SS WRD QUIT [QUIT Save options? YES NO GROUP f1NO [Connection closed by foreign host. 1- SII 2- SAVE 3- DUMP ,•i 4- Exit :4