1 hour ago
5
ARTICLE AD BOX
Elon Musk's SpaceX, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and other private rocket companies are helping drive increased investment in Florida's Space Coast. Property developers in the region are betting that growing activity around the space industry will boost demand for oceanfront hotels, conference facilities and other real estate projects.
According to a CNBC report, one of those investors, Carlos Rodriguez Sr., executive chairman of Miami-based Driftwood Capital, began acquiring hotel properties in Brevard County more than a decade ago after NASA's Space Shuttle programme ended, leaving the region facing lower demand and economic uncertainty.“I saw a lot of bright future, and even though the bankers were saying to me ‘no,’ and a lot of people were thinking that I was crazy, I said, ‘Look, guys, this has the potential for being something big,’” Rodriguez told CNBC.Rodriguez said he anticipated growth from the emerging private space sector, led by companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin, along with increased activity from defence contractors tied to the space economy.His company first acquired and renovated a Hilton hotel before purchasing the struggling International Palms Resort, which is now being redeveloped into the $420 million Westin Cocoa Beach Resort & Spa. Construction on the project began in September 2024, and the resort is scheduled to open next year.
How hotel developers are targeting growing space industry presence in Florida
Driftwood has also invested in other hospitality properties in the region, including an Element hotel and a Crowne Plaza property in Melbourne, Florida. Once the Westin project is completed, Rodriguez said Driftwood will control approximately 11% of the region's hotel inventory and 62% of its beachfront hotel inventory.“When you have all these top-level executives coming to see their launches, and quite frankly, a lot of scientists, it made sense to build a luxury hotel,” he said.Rodriguez also pointed to growing demand for conference and meeting spaces linked to companies operating near the Kennedy Space Center. Adding a conference center with the Westin, he said, “made all the sense in the world when you have all these companies like Amazon putting their satellite processing facility there at the Kennedy Space Center, and you have SpaceX, Blue Origin, L3Harris, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and I can go on and on.”The growing interest in Florida's space economy extends beyond hospitality. Last year, David Steinbach, chief investment officer at Hines, outlined a strategy focused on industrial and warehouse investments supporting infrastructure linked to space-related projects.“Our investment in the Space Coast is going well, and we’re happy. Since the story ran I’ve had a lot of inbound on different companies doing different things,” Steinbach said. While he acknowledged increased attention surrounding the sector, he maintained a long-term investment outlook.“It feels like a lot of hype, and that will certainly die down after the IPO. I’m trying to take an investor mindset. I still believe firmly in what that future looks like. In Florida, those things are going to take time to materialize and deploy,” he said.Rodriguez said Driftwood continues to search for additional development opportunities tied to the growing space industry. He also cited the creation of the US Space Force in 2019 as another sign of expanding government and private-sector investment in space-related activities.Reflecting on conversations with industry executives, Rodriguez said ideas that once sounded speculative are increasingly being discussed as realistic business opportunities.“You thought that you were hearing ‘Star Trek’ with all these fantasies about mining asteroids or collecting solar power in fields in space, or creating data centers in space. When you hear all that, you start thinking, what are these people smoking? But, quite frankly, it’s becoming a reality faster than anybody envisioned,” Rodriguez added.
English (US) ·