Gencom has regained full ownership of the Ritz-Carlton Coconut Grove hotel in Miami. The company, led by Karim Alibhai, acquired its partner Hersha Hospitality Trust’s majority stake in the 115-room property located at 3300 Southwest 27th Avenue. Both Gencom and Hersha did not disclose the sale price, and it was not available in public records.
To finance this acquisition, Gencom secured a $62 million loan from Banco Inbursa. The Ritz-Carlton Coconut Grove includes two towers built in 2002, which house both hotel rooms and 87 condominium units owned by individual investors. The property also features 30,000 square feet of meeting space and amenities such as a pool, restaurant, spa, salon, and fitness center.
Gencom originally bought the hotel portion for $10.2 million in 2011. In 2017, it partnered with Hersha to acquire the hotel for $36 million. Since then, the companies have renovated guest rooms, the lobby, and pool area. They also opened Isabelle’s Coconut Grove restaurant in 2018.
The Coconut Grove neighborhood is seeing increased real estate activity with several new projects underway. These include Ziggurat—a mixed-use development by Allen Morris Company that recently obtained a $138.5 million construction loan—and Roble One by SSA Group, a planned condo project offering short-term rentals.
Gencom manages a global portfolio of luxury hotels and residential properties valued at nearly $8 billion. Its affiliates include Pyramid Global Hospitality and Convene; together they are associated with more than 50,000 hotel keys and over two million square feet of meeting and office space worldwide.
In December, Gencom teamed up with Highgate and Argent Ventures to purchase the InterContinental New York Times Square for $230 million. Last year, Gencom also worked with Fortune International Group to combine and renovate two Key Biscayne waterfront sites: a Ritz-Carlton hotel and Grand Bay Club. A Gencom affiliate paid $20 million for Grand Bay Club and refinanced an existing loan with Blackstone—raising it by $100 million—to fund renovations on both properties.
