Hotel Investors Find Treasure in the Florida Keys

MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Sep 17, 2014) - The hottest hotel market in America may be at the lowest point on the map. As tourists flock to the Florida Keys, home to the southernmost geography in the United States, real estate investors are following, in search of a piece of the booming island action.

With the volume of tourist visits climbing by six percent annually -- there are an anticipated 2.9 million visitors on the way this year -- the Keys have taken their place among the best-performing tourism markets in the country. Hotels in the island chain have seen their revenue per available room (RevPAR) returns jump 15 percent in 2013 to $218 per room, nearly 20 percent stronger than Miami's $183. Through June of this year, the Keys' RevPAR climbed even further to $234.38. According to Gregory Rumpel , Managing Director of JLL's Hotels & Hospitality Group, this isn't a surprise. 

"The Keys are thriving, delivering yields more commonly associated with much larger top-tier markets, like New York. Investors, including big institutional investors, are taking notice," Rumpel says.

Consistent, robust demand enables the Florida Keys to regularly outperform other markets. For example, during the downturn, the Keys proved their strength and resilience by recording only a nominal decline in RevPAR at 6.3 percent whereas nationally the average reached a 17.4 percent decline in 2009.

So, it's not surprising that hotel investors are pouring into the islands like Jimmy Buffett chasing margaritas. Twenty-three properties, representing 27 percent of the market's inventory, have changed hands since 2011. That produced $853 million in sales volume, or roughly $375,000 per key on average.

Real estate investment trusts (REITS) have been active buyers, grabbing up assets including the Pier House, Hyatt Key West Resort & Spa, Hawks Cay Resort and Southernmost on the Beach since May 2013.

This past May, Northwood Investors, LLC. sold the 148-key Parrot Key Resort to Hersha Hospitality Trust for $100 million, or $675,700 per key. Three months prior, the Carlyle Group bought the 79-unit Hampton Inn & Suites Islamorada.

Shortage of Land, Plenty of Opportunity

Part of what makes the Florida Keys such a draw to investors is its inherent scarcity of land. The Keys, often referred to as America's Caribbean, consist of a 126-mile long chain of approximately 1,700 islands. And while this provides plenty of room for beach blankets, the islands are tiny, with only 137.3 square miles of land area. The shortage of land, combined with a highly restrictive rate of growth ordinance (ROGO), has created a market with high barriers to entry for investors and developers alike.

"The restriction on increasing hotel supply, lack of large undeveloped waterfront parcels, or even parcels that can be redeveloped, plus the complexity of construction and building down here make it difficult to pull all the pieces together," says Pritam Singh, founder and president of The Singh Company, the islands' largest real estate developer. "We have pretty much reached build-out on the Keys."

Singh's firm is currently developing a 96-room hotel on a vacant site in Key West. The site is a rare gem, centrally located within the heart of the Old Town area, three blocks from the well-known Duval Street and adjacent to the Historic Seaport.

While land in the Keys may be limited, financing is not: debt capital is at its highest level since the 2008 downturn. With nowhere to build, many investors are using that capital on renovation projects. At the moment, four budget hotels, totaling 500 rooms, are undergoing full renovations and are set to reopen as freshly branded select service hotels in 2015.

The upgrades should allow those properties to raise room rates -- and have a ripple effect on the Keys' hotel economy. "These renovations will put pressure on other hotel owners and operators to update their properties in order to maintain their market share," says Carolina Lacerda , Vice President for JLL. "Ultimately this will drive even higher RevPAR rates for the entire region."

Strong fundamentals and investment interest should keep the Florida Keys' hotel market booming for a long time to come. "A location that is constrained in its growth but not in its demand is an investor's dream -- and it makes for a terrific market," says Singh.

JLL's Hotels & Hospitality Group serves as the hospitality industry's global leader in real estate services for luxury, upscale, select service and budget hotels; timeshare and fractional ownership properties; convention centers; mixed-use developments and other hospitality properties. The firm's 300 dedicated hotel and hospitality experts partner with investors and owner/operators around the globe to support and shape investment strategies that deliver maximum value throughout the entire lifecycle of an asset. In the last five years, the team completed more transactions than any other hotels and hospitality real estate advisor in the world totaling nearly US $36 billion, while also completing approximately 4,000 advisory, valuation and asset management assignments. The group's hotels and hospitality specialists provide independent and expert advice to clients, backed by industry-leading research.

For more news, videos and research from JLL's Hotels & Hospitality Group, please visit: www.jll.com/hospitality or download the Hotels & Hospitality Group's iPhone app or iPad app from the App Store.

About JLL

JLL ( NYSE : JLL ) is a professional services and investment management firm offering specialized real estate services to clients seeking increased value by owning, occupying and investing in real estate. With annual fee revenue of $4.0 billion and gross revenue of $4.5 billion, JLL has more than 200 corporate offices, operates in 75 countries and has a global workforce of approximately 53,000. On behalf of its clients, the firm provides management and real estate outsourcing services for a property portfolio of 3.0 billion square feet, or 280.0 million square meters, and completed $99.0 billion in sales, acquisitions and finance transactions in 2013. Its investment management business, LaSalle Investment Management, has $50.0 billion of real estate assets under management. JLL is the brand name, and a registered trademark, of Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated. For further information, visit www.jll.com .