Lee County hotel sells for $3 million less than in 2018

Ari Investment, a Virginia real estate firm, has bought a Fort Myers hotel for $3 million less than what the previous owner paid for the property about eight years ago.

The hotel is the 148-room Hyatt Place Fort Myers at the Forum. A copy of the deed in Lee County records show the suburban Richmond firm paid $13 million for the property. County property records show the Oliver Cos., a Minnesota developer, paid $16 million for it in September 2018.

A spokesperson for Hunter Advisors, the hotel investment advisory firm that announced the sale and represented Oliver in the transaction, did not respond to questions Tuesday, including why Oliver was willing to sell for $3 million less than what it paid for the property.

The five-story Hyatt Place hotel at 2600 Champion Ring Road was built in 2009.

It has a mix of king and double-queen rooms as well as studios, according to Hunter. Its amenities include The Placery lobby bar, an outdoor pool and about 2,034 square feet of meeting space across three rooms.

The Hyatt Place is at least the second Forum district hotel to sell in recent months.

The other was the 111-room Holiday Inn Express & Suites at 3427 Forum Blvd. It sold in late September for $11.1 million, including all the furniture, fixtures and equipment. The previous owner, county records show, paid $12.48 million for the property in 2016.

Hunter’s Sophia Pittaluga brokered the transaction.