PHOENIX — A joint venture between funds managed by Trinity Real Estate Investments LLC and Elliott Management Corp. has acquired the JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort & Spa, the largest resort in Phoenix. Blackstone reportedly sold the asset for $602 million, according to Pacific Business News.
Spanning 396 acres, the resort features a 950-room hotel, 212,500 square feet of meeting space and seven food and beverage options. Amenities include a spa, lazy river, five pools and two championship golf courses designed by Arnold Palmer and Nick Faldo.
The transaction follows Trinity and Elliott’s joint purchase of the Grande Lakes Orlando Resort in December 2018. The partnership says its strategy is to acquire large hotel properties with value-add opportunities.
Trinity and Elliott intend to implement a multi-million-dollar capital improvement plan to further enhance the offerings at the JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge. In addition to guestroom renovations, plans call for upgrades to the resort’s meeting spaces, ballrooms, water features and food offerings.
“Large, luxury group-business resort and conference center properties continue to be attractive investment opportunities,” says Tim Mackey, portfolio manager at Elliott. “The JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge is a market leader in terms of number of rooms, meeting room space, location and quality.”
The resort is well positioned to benefit from demand drivers for business and leisure travel due to Phoenix and Scottsdale’s strong economic growth and rising competitiveness in the group and convention market, according to the joint venture.
Honolulu-based Trinity is a private real estate investment firm that has completed more than $6 billion of real estate transactions in the United States, Mexico and Japan. Elliott manages two multi-strategy funds, Elliott Associates LP and Elliott International LP, which together have approximately $38 billion under management. Since 2009, Elliott has invested more than $9 billion in direct commercial real estate across the United States, Europe and Asia.
— Kristin Hiller