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8/14/2018 The 585 room Roney Palace Hotel and Beach Resort Closes; May or May Not Reopen Under New Ownership/September 2004
Hotel Online
News for the Hospitality Executive
The 585 room Roney Palace Hotel and Beach Resort Closes;
May or May Not Reopen Under New Ownership
By Ina Paiva Cordle, The Miami Herald
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Sep. 1, 2004 - The Roney Palace Hotel and Beach Resort, whose roots
date back to 1925, shut down Tuesday, the last workday for nearly 200
employees, and days before its scheduled sale to the Chetrit Group.
Closed are the 585-room hotel, the Roney Pub, the hotel's sushi bar
and poolside dining venues, and Breezes, a casual dining restaurant.
The New York developers' $150 million purchase of the Roney hotel
and condominium property, which was approved by the U.S.
Bankruptcy Court this summer, is expected to be completed by Sept.
10, said Brian Rich, an attorney for Berger Singerman which
represents Roney Associates. Roney Associates, the partnership that
owned the property, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Feb.
9.
"Roney Associates has made the decision to close down the hotel as of
today," Rich said late Tuesday. Roney Associates said it does not know
the intention of the buyers, who stipulated that the resort be closed
before being handed over. The sale includes the hotel's furniture and
fixtures, so the owners could reopen underpew management "or
pursue another course of action for the property," Rich said.
Roney Palace Oceanfront Condominium, the condo part of the
property, remains open.
Nearly 200 resort employees, who were given 60 days notice on July
17, were laid off, but will be paid through Sept. 17, said Bill Mueller,
chief executive of Roney Associates. Only a group of about 10
employees, including Mueller, will remain for the next several days or
beyond.
No reservations for September had been taken during recent weeks,
and any long-standing reservations have been accommodated
elsewhere, Mueller said.
The Roney's history dates back to 1925, when the initial, landmark 17-
story hotel with its Florentine bell tower and copper dome was built.
During World War II, the hotel was used for housing and training
Army officers.
Johnny Weismuller, the first movie Tarzan, worked as a cabana boy at
the Roney. Florence Chadwick, who swam the English Channel, was
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8/14/2018 The 585 room Roney Palace Hotel and Beach Resort Closes; May or May Not Reopen Under New Ownership/September 2004
once the hotel's aquatic director.
In 1968, the original Roney was demolished and replaced with a
1,162-apartment building. In 1980, the building was sold by Frankel
Brothers Construction Co. of Philadelphia to Roney Associates. The
consortium operated the Roney as a rental building until 1997, when
the conversion began to condominiums.
The Roney property, which extends for an entire block between 23rd
and 24th streets on Collins, had been split between the hotel and the
condos. The property includes two grand ballrooms, two oceanfront
swimming pools and a 10,000-square-foot health club.
At the time of its bankruptcy filing, the Roney was controlled by 11
corporate partners, with the majority interest held by two Canadian
groups and three sets of Italian investors. The bankruptcy was forced
by upcoming financing needs and a $3.8 million interest payment due
in February.
A representative for the Chetrit Group, headed by Joseph Chetrit, and
which has a stake in Chicago's Sears Tower, could not be reached for
comment late Tuesday.
To see more of The Miami Herald -- including its homes,jobs,
cars and other classified listings -- or to subscribe to the newspaper, go
to http://www.herald.com.
(c) 2004, The Miami Herald. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune
Business News. For information on republishing this content, contact
us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213)
237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.
Florida International University
School of Hospitality and Tourism Management
r II-
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