ECE European Lodging Recovery Fund Acquire Bonvecchiati Hotel & Building, Venice for €100m

Main Photo: The renowned Hotel Bonvecchiati in Venice

Date: June 2021

Location: Calle Goldoni, San Marco, Venice, Italy

Name: The Palace Bonvecchiati – Hotel Bonvecchiati and the Residenzia Bonvecchiati

No. of Keys: 191

Seller: The private families that did own and run the hotel. The hotel started as a 124-room hotel, opened in 1790, is an upper-middle-range, historic property located in the heart of the city with its own water taxi dock. Rooms vary in size, style, and views — some are modern and sleek with crimson accents while others are traditionally elegant with dramatic long drapes that match upholstered furniture.

Buyer: The ECE European Lodging Recovery Fund, a hotel real estate fund that is planned and currently being established by the fund management company ECE Real Estate Partners, has acquired it’s first seed asset, together with two experienced real estate developers as joint venture partners in this transaction, Soravia and Denkmalneu.

ECE is known for it’s main business, that of mixed-use development, especially retail, with some 24 centres, just shy of 3,000 shops in seven European countries.

Soravia, with their So Hospitality division, is a family company, established over 140 years ago, in the construction and real estate business. They focus on the areas of urban development, privately financed housing, commercial projects, subsidised housing, hotel developments and the revitalisation of listed properties.

In addition, they have a stake in the international Dorotheum auction house and the rapidly expanding Ruby Hotels group. With more than 600 completed projects and a project volume of €6.5 billion, Soravia is one of the leading real estate project developers in Austria and Germany.

The Denkmalneu Group specialises in the conversion and renovation of real estate in inner-city locations, founded in 2011, throughout the German-speaking area for a limited group of institutional and semi-institutional investors.

In the past 10 years, over 2000 units have been refurbished and a construction volume of more than €500 million has been implemented.

The Bonvecchiati building ensemble is located on Calle Goldoni just 150m from the famous Piazza San Marco in the middle of San Marco, the heart of Venice, on the main pedestrian axis to the Rialto Bridge. Besides the Palace Bonvecchiati, the complex consists of the Hotel Bonvecchiati and the Residenzia Bonvecchiati as well as additional retail areas. Located on its own canal with a large restaurant terrace and bridge, it represents the quintessence of Venice. With a total of 191 rooms, a restaurant, bar, spa and two moorings, it is also one of the largest hotel buildings in Venice.

The €100m investment is exemplary of the fund’s strategy to invest in excellent locations with a value-add approach. The large property with more than 10,000 sqm was acquired directly from the owning families, who had previously also run the business. As part of the investment, planning is now underway for extensive renovation and redevelopment during the early market recovery.

Given its scale and outstanding micro-location, interest from many international brands is already high. In line with its strategy, the fund is pursuing a repositioning in which the extensively renovated hotels will be operationally merged and placed in the hands of an international brand for the first time. The positioning in the high-quality lifestyle segment is intended as a unique selling point in the local market.

Price: €100m

Price per Key: €523,560 – although this includes a lot more real estate

THPT Comment: Interesting purchase at the price, albeit does include a lot more than just the 190 room hotel…a significant size building in a prime location.

First Seen: Europe Real Estate

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