Condo developer has contract to buy Holiday Isle

Condo developer has contract to buy Holiday Isle
BY ROBERT SILK
Free Press Staff
ISLAMORADA — Holiday Isle Resort & Marina, for years the Upper Keys' best-known party spot and a primary home for Islamorada's famous charter fishing fleet, is under contract to a West Palm Beach developer of condotels.
Sales rumors have swirled about the 151-room oceanfront resort for months, but last Thursday, in an interview with the Free Press, an official from the Ceebraid-Signal development company confirmed the pending deal.
"We have it under contract," said Brad Vida, Ceebraid-Signal's director of acquisitions. "Our plans are to turn it into a condo-hotel very similar to what has been done at Cheeca Lodge."
In a condotel, rooms or suites are privately owned by investors but are rented out as traditional guest lodging. Cheeca and numerous other Keys lodges have either undergone recent condotel conversions or are in the process of being converted. Often, resorts that are converted to hotel-condominiums are made more upscale and the rooms are enlarged or turned into suites.
Vida would not reveal Ceebraid-Signal's purchase price for Holiday Isle, citing contractual obligations, but sources close to the resort have placed the figure between $90 and $100 million. In addition to lodging and a marina, the resort has six bars, three restaurants and a row of shops.
Robert Given, a broker who helped facilitate the deal for the real estate conglomerate CB Richard Ellis, said he expects closing to take place between mid-December and mid-January.
"I would give it a 99 percent certainty," he said. "There has already been a lot of money committed to the deal. And we are not talking about hundreds of thousands."
Holiday Isle's impending sale and conversion have caused concern about the future of the resort's charter fishing fleet, a staple of the Islamorada economy. The Holiday Isle Web site lists 31 offshore and backcountry fishing captains who are based at its marina.
Vida, however, affirmed the importance of the charter fleet.
"We think that we need them for the operation of the facility," he said.
Holiday Isle General Manager Scott Simmons also confirmed that the resort is under contract with Ceebraid-Signal. And he said the company's plan to make the property more upscale could have an impact on its famous Tiki Bar and other drinking establishments.
"It is not going to be the same in my opinion, as far as all the daytrippers coming down and destroying the facilities and throwing beer cans all over the place," he said. "I think it will have visitors that respect and care about the Keys."
In addition to Florida properties, Ceebraid-Signal owns apartments, condominiums and condotels in Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania and Georgia.
Ceebraid-Signal has numerous South Florida holdings, including the recently-acquired Gulfstream Hotel in Lake Worth and the Palm Beach Hilton. The developer is renaming both properties and converting them to condotels.
The company also owns properties in Miami Beach, Pembroke Pines, Boca Raton and locations throughout Central Florida.
In 2004 Ceebraid-Signal executives agreed to a $215,000 settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for failing to inform tenants in its Connecticut apartment buildings that their dwellings could contain lead paint.
Given, though, said the company will be a good steward of Holiday Isle.
"I think it is a very good transaction for the Keys in general because they are a very high quality developer," he said.
Simmons said it could take two years before the redevelopment of Holiday Isle begins.