While the hotel's sale price comes to just over $66,000 per room, Finvarb may need to invest nearly as much to remodel the 35-year-old property, which was originally built as apartments. Marriott International will take over management of the hotel, for which GE Asset Management paid nearly $13.9 million in 1995.

Below-replacement cost pricing appealed to investors who wanted to renovate, reposition and reflag the hotel, says Daniel Peek, senior managing director with HFF's Coral Gables office. He says the buyers are a group of local high-net-worth partners who worked with City National Bank of Florida to finance the DoubleTree acquisition.

"Assets that are priced to sell in the market are starting to attract more attention," Peek tells GlobeSt.com. He adds that HFF is marketing numerous properties with upside potential that are worthy of holding for at least five years.

Value-add hotels may have more solid bottom pricing than other commercial real estate sectors, making them more attractive to investors as well as lenders. "The hardest part is finding sellers in today's market," he says, noting that most current sellers are banks looking to offload REO or property owners who are free of debt or seeking to sell non-core assets.

The DoubleTree Hotel Coconut Grove, at 2649 South Bayshore Drive, is convenient to the CocoWalk entertainment center and the Coconut Grove Convention Center. The hotel features 9,000 square feet of meeting space, a restaurant and lobby bar, an outdoor heated pool, a business center and two lighted tennis courts.