40-story building to rise

Hyde Beach House, a 342-unit condominium-hotel, is in the works.

The Related Group plans to break ground Sept. 6 on Hyde Beach House, a 342-unit condominium-hotel in Hollywood.

The 40-story project, at 4010 S. Ocean Drive, will have 265 condohotel units and 77 traditional condo units.

Units will range from $690,000 to $1.3 million, and the project is expected to be complete in the fourth quarter of 2018, said Eric Fordin, a vice president of Miamibased Related. Buyers are required to make down payments of 50 percent before closing, he said.

Condo-hotels are vacation homes, which are professionally managed and rented to the general public when the owners aren’t living there.

Hyde Beach House is across the street from the ocean and next to Hyde Resort & Residences, another Related condo-hotel project that’s expected to open later this year. Related also built Beachwalk Resort, which opened last year in Hallandale Beach.

“The people who are investing in these projects are [primarily] from Latin America and looking for vacation rentals, so when they come to visit, they have a home to come to,” Fordin said.

At Hyde Beach House, buyers will have the option to rent the units through a management company or on their own, including placing ads on VRBO.com, Airbnb.com and other websites, Fordin said.

The condo-hotel concept struggled during the housing collapse, with some buyers frustrated because they didn’t receive enough rental income to make the investment worthwhile, housing analysts say.

Howard Elfman, president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Realtors, said many buyers have chafed at overly restrictive rental requirements in condo-hotels that limited when and how often the owners could use the units.

Related decided more flexible rental guidelines would be best for business, according to Fordin, who added that buyers at Hyde Resort & Residences and at Beachwalk also can rent units on their own.

Elfman said the keys to a successful condo-hotel are sound management and buyers with control over the rental process.

“They’ve got the versatility to utilize it when they want, and it’s a good cash-flow income,” he said.

COURTESY ILLUSTRATION Units will range from $690,000 to $1.3 million at the Hyde Beach House, which is across the street from the ocean.