The line separating hospitality and residential living keeps getting thinner. Multifamily developers are attracting renters and owners to their properties with hotel-like amenities and services. Post-COVID, more business travelers are building in extra days to their trips for leisure. Buildings that mix hotel rooms with for-sale or rental apartments are increasingly common.
The estimated value of “blended travel” reached nearly $500 billion in 2022, according to Future Market Insights and the Global Business Travel Association. Luxury hotel chains like Four Seasons, Waldorf Astoria, and Mandarin Oriental now operate branded private residences in several metros. Last November, Marriott International, the world’s largest hotel chain, launched a new extended-stay brand, The Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy, the hotelier’s first foray into that luxury arena in the U.S. and Canada. The apartments offer one or three bedrooms, with a full kitchen, in-unit laundry appliances, and weekly housekeeping services.
That brand extension puts Marriott more directly into competition with Placemakr, the flexible-use multifamily and hospitality property operator and investor. Last May, Placemakr initiated its first luxury condo-hotel project in partnership with CA South Development, a Nashville-based developer. Placemakr will act as both property manager and hospitality operator for Hyve, CA South’s midrise condo development in Nashville’s Pietown neighborhood that offers 83 short-term rental-eligible units, meaning that condo owners can Airbnb their homes when not using them.
The Wall Street Journal last May quoted Savills PLC, the global property advisor and agent, which estimated that from 2010 there’d been an increase of branded residences to 38,900 units across more than 200 developments in the U.S. A Savills director, Rico Picenoni, told the Journal that 80% of branded residences are affiliated, and often collocated with, a hotel.
Taking condos to a higher level
Two Roads Development, based in West Palm Beach, Fla., is among the firms circling this commercial-residential property subsector for opportunities, says Brad Meltzer, its Partner and President. Meltzer joined Two Roads Development a year ago from Plaza Construction, where he was chairman and CEO, and had worked with Two Roads to build several luxury condo projects that included the 52-story 391-unit Biscayne Beach in Miami.
Meltzer says that Two Roads got interested in branded residences as a way of “taking high-end condos to the next level.” These projects, he explains, have a “hospitality flavor” that’s “almost like living in a hotel” with deluxe amenities and guest-like services.
To date, Two Roads has successfully launched three branded residential projects:
•EDITION Residences in Miami, a 600-ft-tall, 58-story tower with 185 condos. EDITION is a Marriott brand, and this will be its first tower in Florida that’s condos-only. Arquitectonica is the architect. The project requires the demolition of an existing building and should be completed in four years, says Meltzer.
•Pendry Residences in Tampa Bay, a 38-story tower with 207 luxury condos and a 220-key five-star hotel, that’s scheduled for completion in 2027. Pendry is the hotel banner for Montage International, and Tampa is the latest of several cities to land Pendry-branded residences, including West Hollywood, Calif., Park City, Utah, and Somerset County, N.J. Toronto-based Studio Munge is the interior designer for the EDITION and Pendry projects.
•Meltzer also confirms that Two Roads is part of the development team that includes Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, Luxus Development, and Azure Resorts & Hotels on a $1 billion branded condominium project in Henderson, Nev., called Four Seasons Private Residences Las Vegas, with 171 condos in two towers and six standalone villas. “This has the potential to be North America’s flagship project for us given its profile,” Paul White, senior vice president of residential development of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper last May.
Vertical construction was set to begin next month, within completion scheduled for early 2026.
Interest in branded residences expands
![Rendering of Pendry Residences in Tampa Bay](/sites/default/files/inline-images/UL-ThePendryResidences-01-Aerial_Day-04.jpg)
![rooftop pool at Pendry Residences](/sites/default/files/inline-images/UL-ThePendryResidences-08-Rooftop_Pool-1%20%281%29.jpg)
![Balcony view at Pendry Residences](/sites/default/files/inline-images/UL-ThePendryResidences-03-UnitA1_Balcony-01C.jpg)
Meltzer says that branded residential projects require “another level of coordination” because, he explains, each hotel brand has its own standards when it comes to such things as design criteria and even staff training. On the other hand, many of the hotel brands his firm deals with are international, and bring with them “a great value added to the table,” says Meltzer, in terms of new ideas for design, construction, customer service, and operations.
Indeed, Two Roads Development wants to pursue more branded residential projects, both domestic and in other countries. Meltzer didn’t sound overly concerned that the branded residence trend might cool because of contentiousness between some hotel and condo owners.
The Real Deal recently reported on a lawsuit between condo owners at the 580-unit Carillon Miami Wellness Resort in Miami Beach, Fla., and Z Capital Group, which has owned the hotel and the amenities in that complex since 2015. At issue was how much control Z Capital could exert on condo owners over such things as maintenance and amenities assessments, and common areas. Last January, a Miami judge sided with the condo owners and wrote that Z Capital’s level of control amounted to “overreach.” As of mid-June, the court had yet to specify what portions of the Carillon condo owners can control. But The Real Deal noted that this wasn’t the only lawsuit pitting condo and hotel owners over control of properties and fees levied.
Meltzer suggests such disagreements were unlikely to sour hotel operators or developers on the branded residences. After all, he notes, the trend has picked up steam despite increases in construction insurance premiums, interest rates, and the cost of labor and materials.
Related Stories
Wood | Oct 19, 2018
Design revealed for mass-timber residential tower in Milwaukee
The developer is confident that the city will approve construction, which is scheduled to start next year.
Mixed-Use | Oct 15, 2018
35-story mixed-use tower will be tallest residential building in Long Beach
Studio One Eleven designed the tower.
Multifamily Housing | Oct 10, 2018
Affordable treasures
This year’s prestigious Gold Nugget Awards honor four projects that provide affordably priced housing for homeless families, seniors, and veterans.
Multifamily Housing | Oct 9, 2018
Breaking new ground: The New Home Company
The company, which is headquartered in Aliso Viejo, Calif. relies heavily on focus groups and market research to understand buyer preferences specific to each new community.
Multifamily Housing | Oct 9, 2018
Bjarke Ingels Group creates 66 homes for low-income citizens in Copenhagen
The building is approximately 73,000 sf.
Mixed-Use | Oct 4, 2018
Four-story hotel and adjacent affordable housing community opens in California’s Sonoma County
Axis/GFA Architecture and Design was the architect for the project.
Multifamily Housing | Sep 25, 2018
Fitness centers go for wellness
Equipment choice, room size, program offerings—a lot of thinking has to go into creating a fitness facility that pays off in resident satisfaction.
Multifamily Housing | Sep 24, 2018
Topsy-turvy: Creative use of air rights results in a model of urban luxury design
Using bold cantilevering and imaginative structural design, ODA and its project team created a 12-story building whose massing grows in width as it steps upward.
Multifamily Housing | Sep 21, 2018
A place of ‘voluntary and cheerful resort’
A project team soldiers on in the wake of a nightmarish turn of events.
Multifamily Housing | Sep 19, 2018
Multifamily market trends 2018: What the experts are saying
The growth of keyless entry solutions and demand for oversized units are among the trends and ideas shared at Marcus & Millichap’s 2018 Multifamily Forum in Chicago.