ORLANDO—Beyond South Florida, investors are eyeing Central Florida hotels. Postcard Inn, a 196-room boutique resort on Saint Petersburg Beach near St. Petersburg, FL, looked like a good bet.

HFF secured $26.128 million in post-acquisition financing for the Postcard Inn. HFF worked for the borrower, CRP 6300 Gulf, to secure the five-year, floating-rate loan through BankUnited. CRP will use the loan proceeds to finance the property.

Members of HFF's Miami and Tampa offices, including senior managing director and head of the firm's hotel group Dan Peek, associate director Scott Wadler, director Max Comess and real estate analysts Preston Reid, worked on the deal. The borrow plans to reposition Postcard Inn as a premier beachfront destination.

“The debt markets responded aggressively and with great enthusiasm for the project, the extremely-strong sponsorship and the dynamic St. Petersburg Beach market,” Wadler tells GlobeSt.com. “We were pleased to close with BankUnited, which demonstrated creativity and flexibility in its loan facility to differentiate themselves in a highly competitive marketplace.”

The Postcard Inn sits on an 8.5-acre oceanfront site at 6300 Gulf Boulevard, a barrier island community 10.9 miles from Downtown Saint Petersburg and 30 miles from Downtown Tampa. Originally constructed in 1935, the hotel underwent significant renovations in 2009 to convert it from a Travelodge to the current boutique hotel with a surfer-inspired motif and individualized guest rooms. 

“The Postcard Inn transaction demonstrates the continued evolution and relevance of St. Petersburg Beach as a nationally-renowned, institutional-grade resort market,” Comess tells GlobeSt.com. “Growth of Pinellas County's RevPAR continues to outpace both Florida and national averages.”

The Postcard Inn features a junior Olympic-sized swimming pool with towel service, over 16,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor function space, outdoor pool and ping pong tables, two fitness centers, and three dining options, including the PCI Beach Bar & Snack Shack, the oldest bar on the beach.  There's also a communal fire pit, board games in the lobby, arcade, beach and watersport activities, live music on weekends and on-site parking. The property has 300 feet of direct Gulf of Mexico frontage, and, in addition to the hotel, the site includes 1.17 acres of a retail strip center, which will be converted into additional meeting space.