Thayer Lodging Group Closes on the Sale of the 1,582-Room Grande Lakes Resort in Orlando, Florida for $753 Million

Mar 06, 06 | 8:56 am

Thayer Lodging Group, an Annapolis, Maryland based private equity real estate investment firm, announced that it has completed the sale of the 1,582-room Grande Lakes Resort in Orlando, Florida to Orlando-based CNL Hotels & Resorts, Inc. for $753 million. The closing of the sale occurred on Friday, Feb. 24.

"We are very pleased that the sale represents a compounded annual return to Thayer's investors in excess of 40 percent," said Thayer Co-Chairman Frederic V. Malek. "The sale of this extraordinary luxury resort hotel is consistent with our investment strategy and capitalizes on a very strong capital market and one of the best performing major hotel markets in the United States."

The award-winning Grande Lakes Resort was developed by Thayer and Marriott International, with construction commencing in the spring of 2001. The Resort opened on time and on budget to accolades in July 2003 and has performed exceedingly well since its opening. It contains a 584-room Ritz Carlton Hotel, a 998-room JW Marriott Hotel, over 125,000 square feet of meeting space, a 40,000 square foot spa, and an 18-hole championship golf course designed by Greg Norman, all located on a 500-acre site at the headwaters of the Everglades.

According to Lee Pillsbury, co-chairman, president and CEO of Thayer, "Grande Lakes reflects the vision of Marriott and Thayer to create a world-class luxury resort in Orlando on a grand scale. The spectacular success of Thayer's investment is strong evidence of the wisdom of this vision."

Eastdil Realty was retained by Thayer as an advisor to the deal, Ritz Carlton will continue to manage the Ritz Carlton Hotel, Spa and Golf Course and Marriott International will continue to manage the JW Marriott Hotel.

The sale of Grande Lakes will conclude Thayer's successful sale of $1.5 billion in hotel real estate over a nine-month period. Other transactions closed by Thayer in that time period include the sale of the 1,334-room Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C. in July 2005 for $300 million (representing 2.4 times return on invested equity and 17% compounded annual return), an eight hotel portfolio comprising Thayer Hotel Investors II in July 2005 for $266 million (representing 2.1 times return on invested equity and 29% compounded annual return) and the RIHGA Royal New York in May 2005 for approximately $190 million.

Based in Annapolis, Maryland, Thayer Lodging Group is a privately held real estate investment company with a portfolio of 14 hotels after the sale of Grande Lakes. Thayer has sponsored five hotel investment funds for a small group of institutional investors. The firm's strategy seeks to drive operating results through a combination of repositioning assets, re-branding, strengthening management, and making capital improvements in owned hotels. Its nationwide portfolio includes hotels operating under the Marriott, Hilton, Wyndham, and Six Continents family of flags. Thayer currently has in excess of $160 million in uncommitted equity in its $233 million hotel investment fund, Thayer Hotel Investors IV, with which it is seeking further investment in the hotel segment.