Let me preface this post with the following disclaimer – this post is purely speculative on my part; but once you read through it, you’ll understand why I came to this conclusion.

Today it was announced that the Sheraton Yankee Trader, located right on the ocean in Fort Lauderdale is being closed and converted in to a Westin due to re-open in early 2009. The article states:

The investment group [Starwood Capital Group] bought the Yankee Trader and its sister hotel, the Sheraton Yankee Clipper, from the Gill family in 2005, aiming to renovate both. A “multimillion-dollar” upgrade at the 500-room Clipper may start late this year, said Piedra, manager of both properties.

I really don’t have anything except my own conclusions to verify this – but I think its a very good possibility that we may see the Sheraton Yankee Clipper be re-branded as the 1 Hotel Fort Lauderdale. Ever since the 1 Hotel brand was announced, Starwood Capital has continually stated how they will open one of the initial locations of the brand in Fort Lauderdale yet any details about the location or when construction might start are scarce.

Sheraton Yankee Clipper – made up of the triangular, square (bottom center), rectangular (bottom right) & North Tower (upper left) buildings.

After thinking about this for a moment, it would make perfect sense – the Yankee Clipper hotel is right on the beach in Fort Lauderdale, unlike the Yankee Trader there isn’t even a road between the beach and the hotel, making the Yankee Clipper a better location vs the Yankee Trader. Plus the Yankee Clipper location is closer to downtown Fort Lauderdale. Also, since Starwood Capital already owns two hotels in Fort Lauderdale – both of which are somewhat tired looking – why wouldn’t they use one for one of their own hotel brands?

The property is currently setup as three separate buildings, the primary building is a 6-story triangular shaped building with a 5 and 7-story annex as well as a 9-story “North Tower” across the street connected to the main complex via an overhead walkway. This set-up is almost perfect for a hotel/residence project. Some buildings can be re-built specifically as residences while others may be renovated hotel rooms. I can envision the building closest to the ocean being a residences building complete with its own pool – how is that for exclusive? The possibilities are endless – but I think it’s the prime location for 1 Hotel Fort Lauderdale.

Some might ask – “What about the LEED Certification that all 1 Hotels are going for – isn’t it difficult to convert an existing building into a LEED Certified building?” Yes, but nothing is impossible – as proof, Starwood Capital states they are going to be renovating a historic structure for the 1 Hotel Paris. If they can convert a historic building into a LEED Certified building, I don’t see how it would be an issue to convert a building that’s only a few decades old into a LEED Certified building. Secondly, Starwood never publicly said which LEED Certification they are going for – its entirely possible they may just go for different certification levels depending on the property.

Its also highly doubtable that they would re-brand the location as a Crillon or Baccarat for two reasons:

1. I don’t feel the location is worthy enough for a 6-star hotel brand (Crillon).
2. There is not enough land or amenities for it to be a resort property (Baccarat).

All in all, it would be an excellent location for the 1 Hotel Fort Lauderdale, with the ocean bordering one side of the property who can ask for better surroundings for an environmentally friendly hotel?

andrew@alconic-inc.com