Jonathan Gray, Michael Dell and Boca Raton Resort
Billionaire Michael Dell’s MSD Partners is under contract to purchase the waterfront 1,047-room Boca Raton Resort & Club from the Blackstone Group.
The deal is expected to close at the end of the second quarter, according to a press release. The 337-acre resort, which was developed in 1926, includes two 18-hole golf courses, a 50,000-square-foot spa, seven swimming pools, 30 tennis courts, a full-service 32-slip marina, 13 restaurants and bars, and 200,000 square feet of meeting space.
MSD Partners declined to provide a sale price, but it could be one of the biggest hotel sales to close in South Florida. At $1 million a key, the property could trade for more than $1 billion.
Jeffrey Davis and Gregory Rumpel of JLL are representing Blackstone. They could not immediately be reached for comment.
Blackstone invested more than $300 million into renovating the resort, designed by Addison Mizner, since it purchased it 15 years ago. It’s managed by Hilton under the Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts brand.
Blackstone picked up the Boca Raton property in 2004 in a $1.25 billion deal that also included Bahia Mar and Pier 66 in Lauderdale as well as two resorts in Naples.
MSD Partners is an investment adviser that was formed in 2009 by the Dell Technologies founder and principals of his private investment firm, MSD Capital. Dell’s firm was also rumored to be the buyer of 1 Hotel South Beach, but that deal fell through and the hotel ultimately sold to Host Hotels for $610 million, or $1.42 million per room, in February.