David Grutman and Pharrell’s Goodtime Hotel in South Beach scores $164M refi

Let the good times roll. David Grutman and Pharrell Williams’ Goodtime Hotel scored a $164 million refinancing.

Washington Squared Owner LLC, an affiliate of Imperial Companies, secured the loan from CIM Group and J.P. Morgan Chase for the property at 601 Washington Avenue in Miami Beach, according to records and Eric Birnbaum, principal of Imperial Companies. The New York-based firm partnered with Williams and Grutman to open the 266-key hotel earlier this year.

The $200 million hotel includes 100,000 square feet of public spaces, 45,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, the 30,000-square-foot Strawberry Moon restaurant and pool deck area. It opened in April. The retail space will feature a combination of food and beverage, wellness and fashion concepts, Birnbaum said.

A Walker & Dunlop team led by Aaron Appel and Keith Kurland arranged the financing. The Commercial Observer first reported the loan.

The Goodtime Hotel’s attorney, Michael Larkin, appeared before the Miami Beach Planning Board this week regarding the property’s conditional use permit. Prior to a planning board meeting in July, the hotel had received nearly 30 noise violations. The board on Wednesday voted to delay a vote until November on a motion to revoke the permit or modify its conditions. The hotel did not receive additional violations between late July and this week’s meeting.

The mixed-use hotel development had been in the works for more than five years. The project was partially financed with a $45 million loan from Bank OZK in early 2018. Washington Squared Owner LLC paid $36 million for the Washington Avenue block in 2015.

Grutman, who also owns Swan in the Miami Design District with Williams, is the founder of Groot Hospitality. Groot owns the nightclub LIV at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach; Story; Komodo and other food and beverage concepts. Last year, Grutman sold a majority stake in Groot Hospitality to Live Nation Entertainment for an undisclosed amount.

He recently opened Winker’s Diner, Sushi Fly Chicken and Toothfairy at the former Firestone Garage on Alton Road in Miami Beach.

Imperial Companies, which Birnbaum co-founded with former Vornado Realty Trust president and CEO Michael D. Fascitelli, has invested $1 billion in commercial real estate since 2014, including the Washington Avenue property, according to its website.

Birnbaum, along with former colleagues from Imperial, launched his own firm, Dreamscape Companies, in late 2019. Since then, Dreamscape has invested more than $1.5 billion in lodging, residential, gaming and entertainment properties in the U.S.

Birnbaum and Fascitelli continue to oversee their Imperial deals together.