NEW YORK—Carey Watermark Investors Incorporated has acquired the Boca Raton Marriott at Boca Center, a 256-room full service hotel in Boca Raton, Fla. The hotel will continue to be managed by an affiliate of HEI Hotels & Resorts.
The Boca Raton market is driven by resort, leisure, and commercial business, with over 11 million square feet of office space, upscale residential communities, the main campus of Florida Atlantic University, and the Atlantic Ocean beaches. Market occupancy, which is driven by both resort and commercial business, was 69 percent in 2013, representing a year-over-year increase of 6.1 percent. The larger Palm Beach market, which includes Boca Raton, achieved RevPAR growth of 10 percent in 2013, exceeding the national RevPAR growth of 5.2 percent. With a constrained supply pipeline and steadily increasing visitation trends, Boca’s lodging metrics show positive signs of sustainable growth.
The hotel is located in the Boca Center mixed-use development that includes 375,000 square feet of Class-A office space, 21 stores, and 12 restaurants, and generates significant business from the corporate office tenants in the immediate area. Additionally, the hotel is adjacent to Town Center at Boca, the second largest mall in Florida by square footage with over 1.5 million square feet.
The hotel will undergo a significant renovation including guestrooms, corridors, and meeting space at an estimated cost of over $7 million.
“The acquisition of the Boca Raton Marriott at Boca Center represented the opportunity to invest in a high quality, full service property in an established market with strong growth prospects and high barriers to entry,” said Michael Medzigian, chief executive officer of CWI. “We believe that our planned hotel renovations—updating guest rooms to the Marriott ‘Room of the future’ brand standard and refreshing meeting spaces and guestroom corridors—will reinforce the hotel’s status as a market leader.”
