Miami Historic Hotel Buyer

An investment banker friend from Hollywood, CA asked me to find a historic hotel in Miami for one of his clients.   Summer is the slow season for Palm Beach real estate and this was a great excuse to spend a weekend on South Beach.  After an afternoon of hunting on Loopnet, I found several that were on the National Historic Register.  

Off to South Beach (a.k.a. SoBe).

The first property was a beautiful mansion that was converted to a hotel on Collins Ave, a block east of the beach.   The Realtor said it was OK to show and I was cleared with the front desk to see all the vacant rooms.

I got to the hotel and the iron entry gate on Collins Ave was locked.  I saw a maid cleaning outside and she came over to let me in.  She didn’t speak English too well and I was trying to find out where the front desk was located because it wasn’t obvious.  This was a mansion, not your typical hotel layout.

South Beach Mansion / Hotel

The maid pointed to the brown door in the photo.  I checked out the pool and eventually made my way to front desk…or so I thought.

When I opened the door, I was quite shocked to see a couple in bed.  OMG!!!!  I ran out the door.  

I never found the front desk… that’s all I needed to see.   The rooms looked really nice.