TAMPA, FL—HFF just arranged $85 million in financing for the Cheeca Lodge & Spa, a luxury destination resort in the Florida Keys. The property is AAA four diamond-rated and has been ranked as one of Travel & Leisure's “500 Greatest Hotels in the World.”

HFF worked on behalf of NWCL LLC, an affiliate of Northwood Investors, to secure a 10-year, fixed-rate CMBS loan. The borrower acquired the property in 2011 in a transaction arranged by HFF's hotel group. HFF senior managing director Dan Peek, director Chris Drew, associate director Max Comess and senior real estate analysts Cyrus Vazifdar and Scott Wadler represented the borrower.

“The successful refinancing of the Cheeca Lodge is further evidence to the evolving strength of the hotel capital markets in the US,” Peek tells GlobeSt.com. “We have several clients that are actively seeking to seize the opportunity to secure long-term financing at what are clearly attractive and accretive terms.”

Cheeca Lodge sits on 27 acres with more than 1,200 linear feet of beachfront in Islamorada. Originally developed in 1946, the property was extensively renovated between 2003 and 2010. The main lodge building was completely rebuilt in 2009.  

The luxury resort includes 214 units, a mix of hotel rooms and third-party owned condominiums, 5,439 square feet of function space, three restaurants, a Jack Nicklaus-designed nine-hole golf course, two swimming pools, a 5,500-square-foot spa, six tennis courts, and a fishing/mooring pier. The property also maintains the rights to develop 28 new units through an approved site plan.

HFF's hotel group completed more than $1.7 billion in hotel transactions across all capital markets nationally in 2012. More than $248 million of that volume in the state of Florida.