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Why condo hotels are his thing
Robert Falor is so busy playing the condo hotel field, it seems he adds projects by the week. In mid-December, he was developing 12, with another 13 under contract. He's 36 and shuttles regularly between his Chicago home and southern Florida, where he's amassing quite a profile-and some choice South Beach property. A man on the move, Falor is "the guy," says an associate, in condo hotels.
At home, Falor is developing the Century Building at 202 South State St. in the Loop and converting the former Hyatt on Printers Row to the hotel Blake. In southern Florida, Falor Companies projects include joint ventures with Colony Capital in the Mayfair House hotel in Coconut Grove and, with Cheeca Holdings, the Cheeca Lodge & Spa in Islamorada. Falor plans to close $1.2 billion in condo hotel buys by a year from now. What helps immensely is a $25-million investment from The Mitchell Companies, a Miami-based commercial property owner.
On its own, Falor Companies acquired the Breakwater and Edison hotels in South Beach. In the past month, Falor closed on the Royal Palm Crowne Plaza and the Tides, other notable South Beach properties. Robert Falor's target market is people with high disposable income who are eager to tout their participation in an exclusive membership.
Luxury is key to his ventures. At the Blake, a king room has a bay window, and windows open. Also included in the appointments: a 42-inch plasma TV in the living room, a CD and DVD player in each room, a 13-inch plasma in the marble-tiled bathroom, granite-topped vanities, and rich furniture. The color scheme is honey, mahogany, dark brown and red. At 480 square feet, this unit sold for $303,000.
The high-profile Falor is the first developer to spread this second-home concept out of Florida to cities with vibrant central business districts and what he calls "24-hour life." Although a mere speck in the lodging firmamentonly 15 to 20 such properties now representing less than one percent of the market, says Miami-based PricewaterhouseCoopers partner Scott Herman-the condo hotel is shining brightly. And Falor is clearly on a roll, in the news nearly non-stop since late summer 2004. Helping are public relations firms in Chicago...