With a swing and a loan, interior demolition is now underway at a baseball-themed hotel in West Palm Beach.
Property records show Houston Astros owner Jim Crane just scored an $18.7 million mortgage from Woodforest National Bank for the project at 1655 Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard. The developer has started gutting the building’s interiors, Brian Perrault, a project manager at the construction firm Straticon, which is building the project, said.
The hotel will have more than 160 units, and advanced construction is expected to begin after permits are secured early next year, Perrault said.
Records show a company managed by Crane paid $6.5 million in February for the westernmost building of the Forum office complex along Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard, next to The Palm Beach Outlets.
The hotel will be used by the Astros to house players, coaches and support staff during spring training, and will be available to the general public for the rest of the year, according to the Palm Beach Post. The publication reported the Astros plan to invest at least $25 million into the project.
The development is about five miles south of the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, the new spring training complex the Astros are sharing with the Washington Nationals. The 6,500-seat facility, along Military Trail south of 45th Street, opened earlier this year.
It’s also located on a stretch of Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard that has been reinvigorated since the demolition of the old Palm Beach Mall to make way for the Palm Beach Outlets, which opened in 2014.
Photo is of the three office towers that make up The Forum and Houston Astros owner Jim Crane credited to CoStar and MLB. From the Real Deal Miami via http://ift.tt/2C7euqa.
