RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In Rio, hotels are turning into residential buildings. There are at least five projects of this type underway in the city.
Developers and investment funds take advantage of the location, usually near the beaches, to change the use of the Hotel Glória, Atlântico Tower, Flamengo Palace, Hotel Inglês, and Praia Linda.
According to João da Rocha Lima, a professor at the Real State Center of the University of São Paulo, the movement occurs due to several factors.
The first is that old and degraded hotels would require a lot of investment to restore a condition of income generation compatible with the locations and the value of urban land if they kept their hotel use.
“The return on hotel investments in the country takes longer than 12 years in Brazil. There are no credit lines at adequate cost for that length of time. Particularly the leisure segment is aimed at the capital that is not very aggressive and patient in generating income”.
Therefore, the capital that will be used in the revitalization of the hotels can have higher rates of return in a shorter period (around five years), as are the residential developments for sale, particularly those aimed at the high-income public.
“It is a type of development for which there is already little land in the city. Therefore, they offer the potential for profitability, since the prices charged have taken off from the cost curve.”
See below five developments that will occupy former hotels in the city:
HOTEL GLÓRIA
Opportunity’s real estate investment fund is responsible for the project that will transform the first five-star hotel in the country, which is 100 years old, into a 266-unit residential building with four stores on the first floor.
The new development will be launched soon in partnership with SIG Engenharia, a developer and construction company specializing in the city. The project will preserve and recover the façade.
FLAMENGO PALACE HOTEL
On Flamengo Beach, the hotel is now the Insight Praia do Flamengo, a D2J Construtora retrofit to be delivered in November.
The building has 42 units and items such as virtual entrance, exclusive applications, shared services such as coworking, mini market, laundry, lounge, gourmet space, and spa.
The developer has partnered with Housi, a subscription housing platform that offers 100% digital rentals with no bureaucracy and condominium management.
ATLÂNTICO TOWER
The hotel, located at Rua Visconde de Inhaúma, 95, Centro, will be a residential development with 216 units. The fund Opportunity is responsible for the project.
“The movement of investing in real estate with historical value renews encourages housing and adds value to the regions. The fund closely follows this trend and invests in retrofitting hotels”, says Jomar Monnerat, the fund manager.
HOTEL INGLÊS
Also in Flamengo, the real estate developer Missões acquired the land of the hotel at Rua Silveira Martins, 20, an enterprise located in front of the gardens of Catete Palace, and closed its activities in January this year.
The Verdano Spazio development will be built on the site, with only 16 units of 70 square meters in the bedroom and living room typology. The residential unit will have a gourmet space and fitness center. The launch will take place in the first half of the year.
HOTEL PRAIA LINDA
In Barra da Tijuca, a new residential building with 34 apartments will be built at Praia do Pepê, in Jardim Oceânico, where the hotel with 60 rooms used to be.
The land, with more than 2,500 square meters, will give way to the Praia Residencial Mar, an enterprise with leisure that includes swimming pools with a 25-meter lane and a children’s pool, a kids’ area (indoors and outdoors), a multipurpose room, spa/rest area, meeting rooms, and a gym.
The project, launched by Itten in partnership with 3021, has an overall sales value of over R$100 million (US$18.5 million) and was landscaped by Burle Marx.
With information from Exame