While this was the first W condo-hotel to be announced, its opening will be preceded by another, set to open in Dallas next year. Locally based Colonial Development Co. is the developer of the complex, which is located on 4.5 oceanfront acres at 435 N Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd. and occupies two full city blocks.

Maura Landers, sales director for the company's subsidiary, Colonial Realty Sales, tells GlobeSt.com this will be the largest of the W condo-hotels planned to date. Both buildings are 23 stories high, and units in the condo structure are significantly larger than the hotel units in the neighboring building. There are six different condo-unit floor plans ranging from 804 sf to 1,402 sf. Prices, Landers says, "begin at $900,000 and reach to $1.9 million." She declined to disclose the all-in cost of the development, but says, "the sell-out will exceed $200 million."

Without disclosing current sales, she says "units are selling well. Buyers are primarily from Miami, Los Angeles and New York City, and include models, TV celebrities and professionals between the ages of 30 and 50 who are familiar with the W brand." Owners will have the ability to rend out units when they aren't using them, and both the hotel and condos will share W amenities and services.