Henley Investments, a private equity real estate firm based in the U.K. and U.S., acquired the 81-room Lord Balfour Hotel in Miami for $34.75 million from an unnamed individual. Life House will operate the hotel under its current name until it reopens as Life House Ocean Drive in spring 2020.
Including the acquisition cost, Henley estimates the total project capitalization will exceed $40 million. The renovation work will update all the hotel’s rooms, suites and public spaces and build out a fitness center and yoga studio.
The hotel marks the fourth and largest Miami property Henley has acquired with Life House as its operator. The three other properties are the 33-key Life House Little Havana, the 26-key Life House South Beach and the 50-key Life House Mid Beach.
“We are very pleased with Life House’s performance over the past 12–16 months throughout our existing Miami portfolio, whereby their advanced platform has enabled extremely efficient and profitable hotel operations,” Ian Rickwood, CEO of Henley, said in a statement. “We are actively seeking opportunities to acquire additional hotels in partnership with Life House across the U.S., and feel that with Life House, we are the best buyer of hotels less than [approximately] 125 rooms.”
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During its first year of operation, Life House has signed more than 500 rooms across 10 hotels. Over the next half year, it expects to open a new hotel every month. It predicts it will have more than 25 hotels open and under development by the end of 2019.
Henley focuses on the development, investment and asset management of commercial, residential healthcare, land infrastructure and other alternative real estate assets. It has approximately $2 billion in assets under management.