Sculptor Diversified Real Estate Income Trust is scooping up a Southwest Florida trophy hotel for $835 million.
New York-based Sculptor Diversified, led by Steven Orbuch, is under contract to purchase the JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort and its two Naples golf courses, the Naples Daily News reported. The buyer and seller Barings are expected to close the deal by May 1.
The pending transaction, disclosed in filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, would rank among the biggest hotel trades in Southwest Florida, as well as being the top hotel sale in Florida this year so far.
JLL marketed the 10-plus acre site at 400 South Collier Boulevard on behalf of Barings, the $481 billion asset management arm of MassMutual led by Michael Freno. The firm has owned the 809-room hotel with 12 restaurants, multiple pools and the Hammock Bay and Rookery golf courses since 2017. Marriott International operates the luxury property and is expected to remain in place as manager under the JW Marriott flag.
Barings listed the hotel and golf courses in September.
The hotel opened in 1965 as the 50-room Marco Beach Hotel, an $800,000 project that coincided with the Mackle Brothers’ launch of Marco Island as a master-planned community.
The Mackles expanded the hotel in 1967 to 100 rooms and 44 villa units, then undertook an $18 million overhaul four years later. During the second renovation, the hotel was transformed into a 10-story, 400-room resort and rebranded as The Marco Island Beach Hotel and Villas.
Facing a decade of lawsuits and challenges tied to Deltona Corporation’s residential plans, the Mackles sold the hotel to Marriott in 1979 for $35 million to raise capital.
In 2019, Barings completed a roughly $320 million renovation and repositioning, elevating the hotel from a high-end Marriott to the luxury JW Marriott brand.
In South Florida, Barings is partnering with 13th Floor Investments to build Cadence, a 35-story, 432-unit mixed-income apartment tower in Miami. The joint venture nabbed $125 million in construction financing for the project last year.
— Francisco Alvarado
