An affiliate of Northwood Investors purchased the 18-hole golf course and the nearby Waldorf Astoria Naples, a 474-room resort. Originally known as the Registry Resort, Blackstone acquired the property as part of its 2004 acquisition of Wayne Huizenga’s Boca Resorts Inc., which also included the Boca Raton Resort and the Edgewater Beach Resort, among other assets.
HFF announced that it has closed the sale of the 18-hole Naples Grande Golf Course in Naples, Fla., and the Waldorf Astoria Naples, a 474-room luxury resort, Reuters reported.
HFF marketed the property on behalf of the seller, an affiliate of Blackstone. An affiliate of Northwood Investors purchased the hotel and the golf course. Northwood will continue to operate the hotel with a Waldorf Astoria brand affiliation, Reuters reported.
Originally known as the Registry Resort, Blackstone acquired the property as part of its 2004 acquisition of Wayne Huizenga’s Boca Resorts Inc., which also included the legendary Boca Raton Resort and the Edgewater Beach Resort, among other assets, Reuters reported.
The Naples Grande Golf Course is a Rees Jones-designed private course located minutes from the hotel. The par-72 course features 6,955 yards set among a landscape of native Florida pine hammocks, live oak, grand cypress trees, and water features. Originally completed in 2000, the course has been named one of North America’s “Top 100 Resort Courses” by Golfweek Magazine and named one of the “Top 50 Courses in Florida” with a 4.5 out of 5 star ranking by Golf Magazine.
The resort has 474 guestrooms including 29 gulf view suites and 50 bungalow suites plus more than 100,000 sq. ft. of meeting and event space. Every room features a private, angled balcony with direct views of the Gulf. Guests of the hotel have access to six on-site restaurants and bars, three heated outdoor pools with a 100-foot waterslide, a full-service luxury spa, 8,000-sq. ft. fitness center, business center and an award-winning tennis facility. The property is surrounded by 20 acres of a protected mangrove estuary intertwined with a system of bridges and elevated walking paths that afford access to three miles of beachfront on the Gulf of Mexico, Reuters reported.
“The market for Florida oceanfront resorts is not only back, it’s thriving at a level that we have not seen since 2006 or 2007,” said Daniel C. Peek, senior managing director and head of HFF’s Hotel Group. “The story is not just about Miami anymore—investors and lenders are competing to enter all of the resort markets across the state.”
Florida welcomed a record number of visitors during the second quarter, according to the most recent estimates released by Visit Florida, the state’s official tourism marketing corporation. From April through June this year, 23.4 million people visited the state, an increase of 2.6 percent over the same period in 2012, Reuters reported.
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