South Beach’s National gets new owner
The National Hotel changes hands, but don’t expect any rooms to go condo, a source says. But remodeling is planned.
A French real estate investor has purchased South Beach’s National Hotel for an undisclosed sum, offering a glimpse of the lodging sector’s increasing popularity at the expense of condominium projects.
Claude Dray, the French developer who is a partner in the massive Plaza at Brickell condominium complex being built by the Related Group in Miami, closed the deal on the 151-room Art Deco building on Wednesday. Dray and his wife, Simone, are Art Deco aficionados and recently sold a $75 million collection of Art Deco pieces in a Paris auction.
A top National executive said Dray has no plans to convert any of the oceanfront building into condominiums — a strategy that would have been practically unheard of in recent years as developers sold off hotel rooms to investors amid a condo-hotel market.