Feb. 13–Jacksonville’s largest hotel has been sold.
Fortress Investment Group of New York paid $53 million for Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront, the 963-room hotel on the Northbank downtown. Fortress is the first publicly listed hedge fund in the United States and manages more than $58 billion in assets.
Dan King, manager of the hotel, said that Hyatt has a long-term contract to manage the hotel that transferred with the sale.
Because of that, Paul Astleford, president and CEO of Visit Jacksonville, said the sale doesn’t mean a lot from his agency’s selling point.
“We’ll still have the Hyatt name downtown,” he said, “and that’s important.”
The sale could bring good news, though, he said.
“When new owners come in,” he said, “they normally invest in the hotel. To be honest, we were cheering a bit over here because of this. That’s the normal process, and we’re hoping to see some significant upgrades.”
“Every hotel owner looks to make capital improvements,” King agreed, “but I have nothing to announce at this point.”
With the 963 rooms and 110,000 square feet of meeting space, the hotel attracts a good portion of the cities convention business. Visit Jacksonville lists six gatherings at the hotel this month with attendance ranging from 280 to 500.
“Another positive effect,” Astleford said, “would be if it stimulates some conversation about building out the convention industry here. That would be good for all us.
The hotel opened as an Adam’s Mark in 2001. Oxford Jacksonville Riverfront Hotel, a partnership led by Chartres Lodging Group LLC of San Francisco, bought it in 2005 for $67 million and renamed it Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront.
But it fell behind on its $150 million mortgage, the lenders filed a foreclosure lawsuit and in 2011 were awarded $195 million, including $45 million in interest and other fees.
Roger Bull: (904) 359-4296
