Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort Bonnet Creek Hotel goes for price of $120 million
New York-based Tishman is on a roll.
Shortly after acquiring Kissimmee’s second-largest hotel, the Grand Orlando Resort at Celebration, the real estate company is dropping more money on another prime Central Florida hotel.
According to a recently recorded deed in Orange County, Bonnet Creek Hotel Owner LLC, an entity tied to Tishman, paid $120.5 million for the Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort Bonnet Creek Hotel at 14651 Chelonia Parkway.
The deal for the 400-room hotel breaks down to about $300,000 per key. It’s in the Bonnet Creek area in the tourism corridor, where other hotels such as the 498-room Waldorf Astoria Orlando and a 1,001-room Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek are located.
The Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort Bonnet Creek Hotel features the 5,700-square-foot Blue Harmony Spa and Bar 1521 lounge.
Other amenities include a lagoon-style pool with cabanas, a state-of-the-art fitness center, shuttle services to the theme parks, and 50,000 square feet of meeting and event space.
In an email response to GrowthSpotter, Suzanne Moore, director of sales and marketing for the resort, said the Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort is under new management with HEI Hotels and Resorts. The management company oversees more than 80 full-service, luxury hotels and resorts throughout the United States.
“There are no immediate changes to announce at this time, but we expect some enhancements, which have yet to be finalized,” she wrote. HEI’s Cathy Zucker has been assigned to be the hotel’s new general manager. All other associates were retained, Moore said.
The seller was Wyndham Bonnet Creek Hotel LLC, led by Scott LePage, president of the Americas division at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts.
In 2005, Wyndham paid $19.5 million for the land. In 2011 the hotel became the second Wyndham hotel property in the immediate vicinity of Disney World, despite construction lagging for many years during the Great Recession.
Apartment project begins near NeoCity
Park Square CRE, the commercial development arm of Orlando-based Park Square Homes, has begun clearing a 17-acre site on U.S. 192 in Kissimmee to start construction on a 287-unit apartment complex across from NeoCity.
Park Square spent much of the past five years working through the environmental issues, securing permits, and then redesigning the project to reach this point, Sid Gautum, director of development, told GrowthSpotter. The company bought the land, which is next door to Valencia College’s Osceola campus, in 2018 for $1.17 million.
The developer has secured a $51.6 million construction loan from Ameris Bank, allowing the project to get off the ground. Gautam said the total project budget for the renamed Aston Square will be $79 million.
Gautum said the project went through several iterations and redesigns. Initially, Park Square had sought a PD amendment to allow construction of up to 384 units over two phases. The developer ultimately decided to go with less density and larger units.
“We had to go back to the drawing board because of COVID, and we changed the unit layout,” Gautam said. “Tenants want larger floor plans, so we just gave them more wiggle room in the unit itself. We have a two-bedroom unit with a den that has almost 1,400 square feet.”
Studio and one-bedroom units alsohaveaflexspacethatcanserve as a home office, and all bedrooms have walk-in closets. The developer also asked the architects to make sure each unit has a balcony.
“It makes more sense postCOVID to have balconies to provide outdoor space,” Gautam said.
The apartment buildings are four stories with elevator service, open breezeways and surface parking. The developer eliminated one of the multifamily apartment buildings and replaced it with a row of 15 two-story townhomes.
Gautam said each townhouse is designed with a bedroom on the first floor that could double as a home office and two additional bedrooms on the second floor..
The developer is projecting a 22-month construction period. The site development alone will take up to five months.