June 18, 2019

SFBJ – Hotel to break ground in Delray Beach’s Pineapple Grove Arts District

By South Florida Business Journal

The 141-room Ray hotel in the Pineapple Grove Arts District is set to welcome guests starting in May 2021.At 201 NE 2nd Ave. in Delray Beach, the Ray will be operated by Hilton (NYSE: HLT) under its Curio brand and is being developed by Delray Beach-based Menin Development. The hotel features living walls outside and multiple rooftop gardens, and will also have two floors, underground parking, a glass cube event space with a capacity for 300 people and a 20,000-square-foot rooftop pool deck.NE 2nd Ave Delray 1 LLC, an affiliate of Madison Realty Capital in New York, assumed the $18.2 million mortgage originally granted on the property in 2016 and boosted it to $67 million. The borrower is Grove Rosebud Two LLC, an affiliate of Menin Development. It covers the 1.9-acre site at 233-279 NE 2nd Ave., in the Pineapple Grove neighborhood.Moss & Associates is the general contractor, according to county records.The developer acquired the property for $25.6 million in 2016. About half of the original shopping center there will be demolished. Some tenants, such as the Murder on the Beach Mystery Bookstore, have relocated to new storefronts in the city.The hotel will also open with a restaurant from Akira Back, a Michelin Star chef who oversees Asian and seafood restaurants in Las Vegas, California and Texas. Back also his namesake brand Akira Back Restaurants with locations including Toronto, Singapore, Bangkok and Seoul.“The Ray has been conceived and designed to be the ultimate hotel and dining destination in Delray Beach and the entire region,” said Craig Menin of Menin Development Inc. “We are excited to begin construction, and look forward to providing a new and different amenity to residents and visitors alike.”The groundbreaking for the Ray will take place on-site on Wednesday, June 12 at 10:30 am.

View Source: https://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2019/06/10/the-ray-to-break-ground-in-delray-beach.html