A new hotel-apartment hybrid is headed to South Florida, with construction expected to begin in March for opening in 2017.
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The WaterWalk Hotel Apartments will be built in Davie adjacent to the Value Place hotel, said David Redfern, a former Value Place executive who is president of WaterWalk’s real estate development and franchising groups based in Wichita, Kan.
The Value Place at 5700 Reese Road opened in April, the first in Broward County for the extended-stay chain.
WaterWalk properties combine features of an extended-stay hotel with the lifestyle of apartment living, Redfern said.
The two-building, four-story WaterWalk complex will offer 138 apartments — half of them furnished, Redfern said. The Gold Package includes hotel-like services such as housekeeping, in-room breakfast, gym access, parking, Internet and DirecTV with premium channels in furnished one, two- or three-bedroom apartments.
A Silver Package applies to unfurnished apartments that are rented for at least six months, but without the extra hotel services. There’s no security deposit or application fee, and the all-inclusive rent includes utilities, Internet, trash removal, kitchen appliances, DirecTV access, gym membership as well as in-apartment washers and dryers, according to WaterWalk.
“We’re really excited about being down here,” Redfern said. “There really is demand.”
The WaterWalk in Davie is expected to attract customers from the nearby educational and research community and corporate headquarters as well as from professionals moving to the area or staying long-term on consulting or training contracts.
Redfern said the nightly rate for a WaterWalk furnished unit is similar to a Residence Inn by Marriott.
For example, an unfurnished apartment at WaterWalk runs about $2,000 per month. A furnished apartment with hotel services costs about $4,300 monthly, Redfern said.
WaterWalk Hotel Apartments is the fifth national brand of Jack DeBoer, founder of extended-stay chains Residence Inn, Summerfield Suites, Candlewood Suites and Value Place.
The first WaterWalk opened in Wichita in September 2014.
The Davie hotel-apartment complex is part of a $100 million, five-property franchise deal between WaterWalk Hotel Apartments and Henley, a private equity real estate firm in the United Kingdom.
Four others will be built in Lake Mary, north of Orlando; Albany, N.Y.; and Charlotte, N.C., with construction set to begin in January 2016, the companies announced in August.
Excluding land, each property will cost about $12 million to build, WaterWalk said.
The Lake Mary site at 1036 Greenwood Blvd. is expected to appeal mostly to business travelers and not tourists given the high presence of Class A office space in that area, Redfern said.
For information, go to waterwalk.com.
Staff researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report
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