1675-11 Royal Palm GrooveOW
HOTEL TALKS BACK ON TRACK AFTER HANG-UP 10/16/1996
THE MIAMI HERALD
Copyright (c) 1996, The Miami Herald
DATE: Wednesday, October 16, 1996 EDITION: Final
SECTION: Business PAGE: 7B LENGTH: 80 lines
ILLUSTRATION: photo: Arthur COURSHON, R. Donahue Peebles (a)
SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: By RICK JERVIS And DALE K. DuPONT Herald Staff Writers
HOTEL TALKS BACK ON TRACK AFTER HANG-UP
Early last summer, Arthur Courshon gave R. Donahue Peebles a hint of things
to come. After a tense review session, Courshon -- the head of Miami Beach's
hotel negotiating committee -- told Peebles that if he won the competition,
the two would have ' 'a very interesting time negotiating. "
Interesting was an understatement.
"I think Arthur has made it a point to make it so we have to cross a lot
of roads to get to the finish line, " Peebles said. "He certainly has got the
city a very good deal with us. "
The deal under negotiation is construction of a major black-owned hotel in
South Beach. In June, Miami Beach awarded Peebles the rights to develop the
project, and since then the two sides have been hammering out the contract
they need before construction can begin. Peebles said the city has requested
more information about his financing, commitments from prospective commercial
tenants, and his timetable. But things now seem to be moving ahead, both sides
say.
"Are there problems that need to be worked out on the loan commitment? The
answer is yes. Do I think they're going to be worked out? The answer is yes, "
Courshon said. "There's too much money involved with the city for me not to
verify all their financial statements. "
At the same time that Peebles is working on his 270-room Royal Palm Crowne
Plaza Resort, the city is also working in a public/private partnership with
the Loews Corp. on an 800-room convention hotel.
In a letter to the city last week, Peebles' attorneys said the developers
have been "treated differently in many important and material respects than
the team that is presently developing the adjoining hotel. "
Since that letter, Peebles has had a conference call with city officials to
iron out problems. The negotiating team will give a progress report to the
Miami Beach City Commission on Oct. 23.
"We plan to execute an agreement with the city by the end of the year and
start construction shortly thereafter, " said Peebles, who was the guest
speaker Tuesday evening at the annual meeting of the Greater Miami & the
Beaches Hotel Association.
Peebles said he is "cautiously optimistic. I think we've had an
opportunity to make sure we're both on the same sheet of music and we'll move
forward. "
Comparing the Loews project to the Royal Palm is unfair because the Royal
Palm carries much more financial liability for the city, Courshon said. He
said he is confident the Peebles group will answer all his questions, but he
will continue to closely scrutinize.
"My job representing the city of Miami Beach is making sure they have the
money, " he said.
The two sides have differed over how much money should go into a
contingency fund. Peebles contends five percent is standard for a $55 million
project. The city wanted 13 percent, because of concerns about cost overruns.
Through negotiations and deferral of budgeted items like developers fees, the
two sides are now just $1.2 million apart, Peebles said.
Peebles said his first face-to-face negotiating session with Courshon was
last month at Courshon's North Carolina vacation home. He said he left with
the impression that things would go well. But when the negotiations were
discussed later by the Miami Beach City Commission, he was taken aback.
"I was portrayed as not having our act together, " Peebles said. So his
group asked for a detailed, written list of what the city wanted resolved
before a letter of intent is signed.
Peebles said, "It's a bit of a misimpression that our development team is
in need of additional time. We're really raring to go. "
The hotels are scheduled to open in September 1998. The city is offering
$10 million in incentives as part of the accord that ended Dade's 1993 black
tourism boycott. Peebles has lined up a $31 million loan commitment from
Capital Bank for the Royal Palm and the neighboring 155-unit Shorecrest in the
1500 block of Collins Avenue.
Peebles' attorney said he already had spent more than $1 million on the
project, relying on "representations and expressions of good faith" from the
city.
The city approved the Loews project in July 1994, and the letter of intent
was signed the following May. The final contract was signed last July.
Loews broke ground late last month on the $135 million luxury hotel, which
tourism officials are counting on to boost convention business. Miami Beach is
providing $50 million in incentives in the public/private partnership.
"Whenever you have negotiations with a project of this magnitude, you're
going to have some discomfort, " said Commissioner David Pearison. "What's
important now is that we're back on track. "
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X96 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
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X96 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
be 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.
CUT LINES:
BIG PLANS: An artist's rendering of the hotel's $22 million restoration,
which will preserve the front western entrance of the building.
TAG: 9602090689
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mh96 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
city's request, indicates that by at least a couple 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
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mh96 7 GROUPS VIE TO DEVELOP BLACK-OWNED HOTEL 04/02/1996
THE MIAMI HERALD
Copyright (c) 1996, The Miami Herald
DATE: Tuesday, April 2, 1996 EDITION: FINAL
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: 1B LENGTH: 81 lines
ILLUSTRATION: photo: Julius JACKSON, William PERRY
SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: TONY PUGH Herald Staff Writer
MEMO: See NEW HOTEL PROPOSALS at end of text
7 GROUPS VIE TO DEVELOP BLACK-OWNED HOTEL
Seven investor groups representing some of the world's finest hotels
stepped up Monday as candidates to develop an African-American-owned hotel on
Miami Beach.
The list of bidders includessome prominent local. entrepreneurs. Among
them: former Miami City Commissioner M. Athalie Range; former Miami Sports and
11110- AEI
Exhibition Authority Executive Director William Perry; Fort Lauderdale real
estate developer Milton Jones; and Julius Jackson, president of McDowell
Jackson Inc., Miami general contractors.
The proposals -- which range from a $22.6 million, 180-room Doubletree
Hotel to a $61 million, 301-room Ritz Carlton -- will be evaluated over the
next few months. Each ownership group will present its proposal to city
commissioners sometime in May.
Afterward, "we should have a pretty good idea of who survived the cut, "
said Arthur Courshon, head of the city's hotel negotiating committee.
Three proposals, each ranked in order of merit, then will be selected in
June. If the top-ranked bidder cannot complete the project, the development
rights then would go to the second- ranked bidder, Courshon said.
Finalizing the deal once a project is selected could take several more
months, Courshon said. The city doesn't have a timetable for ground breaking
yet.
The hotel project was the key goal of a 20-point accord that resolved the
black tourism boycott in 1993. The HCF Group, made up of four local investors,
was awarded the rights in 1994 to develop the hotel. But the investors lost
the development rights in December when they couldn't secure financing.
That setback led to Monday's new round of bids. Potential developers were
all optimistic about their chances.
Anthony Rolle, a Miami Beach native and project bidder, said the rights
should be given to a group with strong local ties.
"If some guy from Chicago gets this, his money is going to go back to
Chicago too, " Rolle said. "This project is to empower blacks in Miami
specifically."
Julius Jackson, another project bidder, agreed.
"Everybody on our team is local, " Jackson said. "We felt if we could not
generate the funding locally, it didn't make sense to do it."
But George Knox, a local attorney representing a group of East Coast
bidders, Royal Palm Partners, said the investors' expertise and financial
wherewithal were the most important aspects.
This is a summary of new proposals to develop a hotel owned by
African-American investors: * Royal Palm Partners -- $45 million, 260-room,
all-suites hotel by Regal Hotels International. Investors: Peter Borges and
Rick Lassiter, Connecticut real estate developers; Carlton Brown, architect,
New York City; Gordon Grant, investment banker, Washington, D.C. ; Walter
Edwards, entrepreneur, New York City.
* Royal Palm Hotel Ltd. -- $22.6 million, 180-room, all- suites hotel by
Doubletree Guest Suites. Investor -- Milton Jones, president, Milton Jones
Development Corp. , Fort Lauderdale.
* RDP Royal Palm Hotel Ltd. -- $28 million, 252-room Crowne Plaza Hotel.
Investors -- R. Donohue Peebles, real estate developer, Washington, D.C. ;
Clarence Avant, president of Motown Records; the HCF Group; Jeffrey Earl
Thompson, accountant, Washington, D.C. ; Cecile Barker, information systems
company owner, Maryland.
* Ritz Carlton South Beach Ltd. -- $61 million, 301-room Ritz Carlton
Hotel. Investors: Julius Jackson, president; M. Athalie Range, former Miami
city commissioner; Michael Martin, Fort Lauderdale accountant; Dennis Miller,
local engineer; Milton Wallace, local attorney.
* Palm Resort Partnership -- $44 million, 350-room Wyndham Hotel.
Investors: Anthony Rolle, Miami entrepreneur; William R. Perry III, former
president of Miami Sports and Exhibition Authority; Otis Warren and Paul
Travis, real estate developers, New York City.
* World Hotels & Resorts -- $56 million, 330-room Hyatt Hotel. Investors:
Eugene Jackson, chairman and president of Unity Broadcasting Network; Marc
Kovens, local real estate developer; Mark Ellert, Miami real estate developer.
* African-American Development Group -- $22.5 million hotel by Clarion
Hotels International. Investors: Floyd G. Thacker, general contractor,
Atlanta; Edgar Younge, president of Guardian Securities, Virginia; H. Louis
Salomonsky, architect, Virginia.
KEYWORDS: BLACK BUSINESS MB
TAG: 9601220656