Oct. 10–ESTERO, Fla. — The Hyatt Place Coconut Point in Estero has a new owner.

The 108-room, five-story hotel, at 23120 Via Villagio, steps away from the shops and restaurants at the Coconut Point mall, recently sold for $7 million, Lee County property records show. The deal closed Sept. 24.

The new owner is Kolter Hospitality LLC, based in West Palm Beach.

“We executed a franchise agreement with Hyatt and will continue to operate this hotel as a Hyatt Place Hotel,” said the hospitality company’s president, Scott Webb, in an email.

Improvements are planned, starting this month, including painting the outside of the hotel, he said.

“All staff were offered employment and all accepted it with our firm,” Webb said.

The seller of the hotel was the Simon Hotel Operating Company LLC, headquartered in Indiana. It’s an affiliate of the Simon Property Group, the developer and owner of Coconut Point mall.

Near U.S. 41, the Hyatt Place opened in Estero in early 2009, years after the larger, more upscale, waterfront Hyatt was built on nearby Coconut Road.

Launched in 2006, Hyatt Place is a brand of Hyatt Hotels Corp. with more than 200 locations in the U.S. and other countries, including China, Costa Rica and United Arab Emirates.

Kolter Hospitality owns and operates three other Hyatt Places in Florida — in Delray Beach, West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale. It also owns a Hilton Garden Inn in Palm Beach Gardens, Webb said.

Kolter is building a Westin Hotel in Sarasota, overlooking the bay. It has two other hotels under development, including a Hyatt Place in downtown Boca Raton, Webb said.

Another hotel is planned for St. Petersburg. “We have not settled on a brand yet for this location,” Webb said.