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Linda Gill, president of Gill Hotels, broke news of the changes to the hotel's 550 employees on Thursday. In an interview, Gill said she will not manage the hotel after the deal closes, but will be a partner and hopes to stay active in tourism promotion. "I'm very proud of these properties and I want them to be first class," Gill said. Her 89-year-old father, George W. Gill Jr., is considered the dean of Fort Lauderdale tourism and built the wedge-shaped Yankee Clipper in 1956. The 460-room Yankee Trader opened a mile north on the beach in 1964. The hotels were well maintained but have not been thoroughly remodeled since they opened, and look their age. Gill had plans to overhaul them, but will not carry them out. "I don't think I have the expertise," Gill said. "I want someone to come in who really knows what they are doing." Funding was also a problem. It could take $30 million to $50 million to make the hotels competitive with newer properties opening or on the drawing boards. "I just don't have the capital for that kind of investment," Gill said. Gill will partner to redevelop the properties with an affiliate of Starwood Capital Group, a real estate investment firm that has ties to Starwood Hotels & Resorts, one of the largest hotel operators nationwide. Starwood owns the Sheraton brand, among others. The Yankee Trader and Clipper have been franchisees of Sheraton. Gill said that Starwood Hotels & Resorts would take over management of the hotels in June, if the partnership agreement closes. Gill wouldn't say how much ownership she retains or put a value on the deal. Proceeds from the deal will go to redevelopment, she said. Details of how the Sheratons will be improved are still being decided, Gill said. Efforts to reach Arne Arneson, managing director of Starwood Capital, were unsuccessful. Scott Brush, a Miami lodging consultant, said he understands that one of the two hotels will be upgraded to become a Westin, another Starwood brand. Brush said the hotels have prime locations, especially the Clipper which is right on the sand. He said if sold outright, the hotels would fetch between $175,000 and $185,000 a room, possibly more. That equates to about $175 million. Frank Nardozza, chief executive of REH Capital Partners, advised Gill on the deal. He said its value is complex. "It's structured as a joint venture, so it's not as simple as what is the price," he said. The Clipper served as a backdrop for Fort Lauderdale's defining cinematic moment, the 1960 film Where the Boys Are. More recently, scenes from the Robert DiNiro vehicle Analyze This were filmed in its Wreck Bar. Sale of the hotel puts a definitive end to the era of Fort Lauderdale tourism in which small scale, mom and pop lodgings thrived. Gill, who is vice chair of Broward County's Tourist Development Council and serves on the Florida Commission on Tourism, said that selling control of the hotel was "very emotional." She said her father supports the deal. "After 50 years, [the hotels] need to be repositioned," she said. "He wants to see the properties improved." ----- To see more of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel -- including its homes, jobs, cars and other classified listings -- or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.sun-sentinel.com. Copyright (c) 2005, South Florida Sun-Sentinel Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail [email protected]. |
| Also See: | Hotel group could buy controlling stake in two Fort Lauderdale, Fla., sites / December 2004 |
| Linda Gill Succeeding her father Bob Gill as President of Gill Hotels, Inc. / March 2003 |