New bid for Patel hotel.
After a canceled auction sale last summer, the Doubletree by Hilton hotel near University of Central Florida has a new sale pending.
The 242-room property, 12125 High Tech Ave., is the last of five hotels owned by indicted Orlando businessman Nik Patel to be sold off to satisfy claims by victims of his alleged loan fraud.
A subsidiary affiliated with Uniondale, N.Y.-based Navika Capital placed the winning bid in an auction this week for the hotel, at $26.65 million. The bid was made under the name White Diamond Hospitality LLC.
The only other bidder was an affiliate of Great Neck, N.Y.-based United Capital Corp., registered to bid as AFP 110 Corp., which came in second place at $26.6 million — a difference of just $50,000.
The auction was held Tuesday at a Chicago law firm that is handling the wind-down of Patel’s hotel real estate company, Alena Hospitality. Court-appointed administrators have been overseeing the hotel since 2014.
A previous auction in July for five of Patel’s hotels attracted a winning bid of $30.05 million for the Doubletree property, but that bid fell through in a dispute that resulted in a lawsuit. The Doubletree was the only one of the five that was open for business when Patel was arrested.
Details about the hotel’s operation were made public in the court cases. In October, a report to the court said the hotel has generated 12-month gross revenues of about $7.5 million with a net operating income of $1.6 million.
Navika Capital invests mostly in hotels, about 40 of them throughout the nation, according to its website. It also owns nine office buildings and several shopping complexes and recreational properties.
United Capital won the bid on another former Patel property, a former Sheraton downtown, and announced it will become a Marriott.
Seminole incentive
Seminole County is considering a new incentive program in an effort to attract more sports and special events. The purpose is to boost hotel stays and economic impact for the county.
The county is opening a new Seminole County Sports Complex on 102 acres near Sanford-Orlando International Airport, with 14 lighted athletic fields. Just north of Orlando, the county has a thriving business hub, but has struggled to attract large numbers from Orange County’s huge tourism business.
The new program would be funded from the county’s tourism tax. It was placed on the agenda under items brought forward by County Manager Nicole Guillet, under the county’s Tourism Development Division.
According to the description of
the new program, events will have to show the county they will generate at least 150 hotel room nights, and those hotel stays will have to be verified and documented to receive the funding.
Most of the incentive awards are expected to be less than $25,000, requiring only the County Manager to sign off. The amount would be based on the number of hotel stays. Any requests above $25,000 would need approval of the full Board of County Commissioners.
State laws governing the use of tourism tax dollars would also guide the use of the funds for the incentive program. The money would be used to increase participation, attendance, and awareness of an event, and promotions or advertising for the events must target people at least 75 miles outside of Seminole County.
The board is set to consider the new incentives at its regular meeting, 9:30 a.m. on March 8 at the commission chambers in downtown Sanford.
Faro stock
Lake Mary-based Faro Technologies made up some of its recent stock losses on Thursday, after it announced earnings Wednesday for the fourth quarter and entire year of 2015.
The stock closed at $30.30 on Thursday, up by $3.35 or 12.43 percent. Over the past 12 months, it had traded as high as $64 per share, and as low as $20.72 — a low point that it hit just in January.
The company makes software and 3-D, laser-beam measuring devices for use in manufacturing and other applications.