A Top Condo Developer Begins To Shift His Sights
Developer Key International has had a great run in the condo space—which continues. But now, in what is perhaps a barometer of the economic cycle, co-president Inigo Ardid tells us they have “enough for-sale residential on our plate,” the space seems like it’s getting crowded and overpriced, and it’s time to diversify.
We snapped Inigo at his desk on Brickell, with recently completed 400 Sunny Isles behind him that they did with 13th Floor Investments. So where will they turn more of their attention now? His answer is clear: select service hotels and market-rate apartments.
Key knows hotels. It owns the Eden Roc, which it's restoring as an icon in Mid-Beach (alert: they’re building a Nobu Hotel inside of it, opening in three months and set to become 320 of the Eden Roc’s 631 rooms). They also own the 230-room Marriott Stanton South Beach. But Inigo notes that full-service hotels are a time-consuming and complicated business. Select service hotels (eg, Hampton Inn, Embassy Suites) are simpler. In the US they have three such hotels (in New Smyrna, St. Augustine and Savannah) and are looking actively for more in Florida, around the Southeast, in the big cities of Latin America, and maybe in Spain. With 429 select service rooms currently, they'd like to get soon to 1,000.
As for apartments, they’re looking in Ft. Lauderdale, Boca, Del Ray, and Palm Beach, mostly for mid-rise and garden style, and already have some sites like this one in Little Havana. They will either acquire and renovate or do ground-up, and expect to focus on Florida because that’s what they know best.
From his office, Inigo points at 1010 Brickell, a fully pre-sold 389-unit luxe condo they’re developing with 13th Floor. They’re also starting with them the Harbour in North Miami Beach, and with Related they’re doing Hyde Beach House in Hollywood.
Inigo says doing condos is a fun and lucrative business—but depends on the land not being expensive; they picked up the 1010 site cheaply at the beginning of the recession when it was a parking garage. Never be over-levered, he says.
The name of the company comes from the idea they are in the business of buying and building lots of "keys." Some other factoids about Inigo you may not know:
Family: three kids, ages 8, 6, and 6 months
Favorite sports: tennis, boating, skiing
Food: loves to grill entrana (skirt steak), salmon with vegetables
Must-have accompaniment: Spanish wines
Restaurant: What else could it be? Nobu at the Eden Roc, where he loves the king crab and yellowtail (editor’s note: don’t eat up the profits, Inigo)
Music: merengue reggaeton, '80s and '90s pop like Eagles, Pearl Jam, ACDC, George Michael, and an occasional older act like Tina Turner
Vacay: Madrid (came over at age 3); Vail for skiing; Bahamas for spear fishing; Costa Rica for surfing
Philosophy: If you want to be a developer, you have to keep betting. Don’t overdo it, but no matter how the economy is doing, "keep going back out."
