€100m Venice debut for ECE’s new lodging recovery fund

The new ECE European Lodging Recovery Fund, a hotel real estate fund that is being established by fund management company ECE Real Estate Partners, has invested more than €100 million in a hotel in Venice, its first seed asset.

The  The Bonvecchiati building ensemble has been acquired in conjunction with real estate developers Soravia and Denkmalneu in a joint venture.

The Bonvecchiati building ensemble is located on Venice’s Calle Goldoni and is 150 metres from Piazza San Marco on the main pedestrian axis to the Rialto Bridge.

The complex consists of Palace Bonvecchiati, the Hotel Bonvecchiati and the Residenzia Bonvecchiati, as well as retail areas. The buildings are served by their own canal and have a large restaurant terrace and bridge. The assets have a total of 191 rooms, a restaurant, bar, spa and two moorings and represent one of the largest hotel buildings in Venice.

ECE said the acquisition is exemplary of the fund’s strategy of investing in strong locations with a value-add approach.

The property, which has more than 10,000 sq m of space was acquired from family ownerships. ECE said that it is planning extensive renovation of the complex early in the economic recovery to  reposition the hotels to target the high-quality lifestyle segment. The hotels will be “operationally merged” and, for the first time, placed in the hands of an international brand.

The Luxembourg-based ECE European Lodging Recovery Fund is targeted at institutional investors such as insurance companies, sovereign-wealth funds, and pension funds. It intends to invest  about €300 million in hotel assets with value-add opportunities. Existing investors include the family office of the Otto family and the fund management team.

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