A group of Irish investors has effectively sealed the €165 million purchase of a Florida hotel located at the home of this week's Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) Players' Championship at Sawgrass.
RQB America, led by developers Paddy Kelly, Niall McFadden and Dave O'Halloran, has paid a deposit on the $200 million (€165 million) Sawgrass Marriott, and have embarked on due diligence on the property.
Financier and former Anglo Irish Bank executive Paul Pardy, who is also involved in the deal, told The Irish Times last night that RQB expects to complete the deal on May 15th.
The hotel is located at Sawgrass, a complex of two golf courses well known to fans of the sport around the world. The Stadium course is the home of the Players' Championship, sometimes dubbed the "fifth" major, which ended this week.
Canadian Stephen Ames took the honours this year. Previous winners include Fred Funk and Adam Scott. The course is known for its difficult 17th hole which is on an island.
RQB plans to spend a further $20 million on the 500-room hotel to bring it to four-star standard. Mr Pardy described the facilities as "close" to that level. It also has planning permission for 230 units next to the hotel, which will ultimately be used to build condominiums for visitors.
The company has raised the cash to buy the property and renovate the rooms through a combination of bank debt and equity from private Irish investors.
The hotel has an agreement with the PGA that gives it control of 85 per cent of the tee time at Sawgrass. "That means that if you want to play Sawgrass, you should stay at the hotel," he said. Unlike a number of US courses associated with high profile tournaments, Sawgrass is open to the public.
Mr O'Halloran, a son of Dublin architect Brian O'Halloran, will manage the business in the US, where he is a resident.
Mr Pardy said yesterday that the redevelopment of the rooms would be finished in time for next year's Players' Championship.
David Pillsbury of the PGA Golf Course Association, which manages PGA courses in the US and other locations, told The Irish Times that the tournament's status would be raised next year by transferring it to May and broadcasting it on the major television network NBC with minimal advertising interruption.
The organisation is planning to invest $20-$25 million on the stadium course and on replacing the current clubhouse with a new, bigger facility.
It will also reconstruct the viewing mounds which allow spectators at the course to follow the action during the championship.
It will spend a further $2-$3 million on the Sawgrass Valley course, which will be renamed Dye's Valley in honour of Peter Dye, the architect who designed both courses.
"That will give us a very powerful asset," Mr Pillsbury said. He described the hotel's location as the "hottest" real estate market in the US. There is high demand for property in the area, but there is little scope there for development.
