PGA National could be sold for $425 million and transformed into a luxury brand

Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management invested more than $100 million in renovations before putting the Palm Beach Gardens property up for sale earlier this year.

PGA National Resort & Spa V Palm Beach Gardens It could soon sell for $425 million, or about $1.3 million per hotel room, according to published reports.

The property is under contract with Henderson Park, a private real estate investment firm based in London, Bloomberg reported. It is unclear how quickly the deal could be closed.

But the sale marks the latest set of owners of the landmark apartment complex. golf club and resort located on 800 acres off PGA Boulevard just west of the Florida Turnpike.

In 2018, Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management paid $218 million for resort and club, then invested more than 100 million dollars into the renovation of the resort’s signature spa, as well as restaurant and lobby upgrades. Brookfield also expanded its six golf courses before putting the property up for sale in recent months.

If the sale of Henderson Park is completed, the hotel will reportedly be managed by luxury boutique hotel brand Salamander Hotels, led by Sheila Johnson, co-founder of BET.

Representatives for Brookfield and Henderson Park declined to comment.

But Peter Ricci, director of the hotel and tourism management program at Florida Atlantic University’s College of Business, praised the hotel’s possible upgrade to the Salamander brand.

“Salamander is known for running very good establishments,” Ricci said.

Jeff Lichtenstein, president of real estate brokerage Echo Fine Properties in Jupiter, said there is a shortage of new and upgraded hotel properties in northern Palm Beach County.

A further upgrade to a PGA Resort “would be absolutely amazing,” Lichtenstein said. “There is a lot of demand for upscale hotels and there are no large hotel complexes, especially golf clubs like the one in the north. We have no land.”

Real estate experts point to demand for private golf clubs in West Palm Beach and Palm Beach as a key factor in PGA National’s high price tag.

PGA National is a famous place, especially in the world of golf.

PGA National Resort & Spa is already well known in the golf world. The resort has five championship golf courses, as well as a nine-hole course called The Staple.

The hotel also hosts the Cignant Classic golf tournament, part of the PGA Tour.

This year, another golf resort has attracted experienced professionals as buyers. A team that includes New York-based Witkoff Group and Access Industries has taken control of the former Banyan Cay Resort and Club in West Palm Beach.

After years of on-and-off construction, the property went into foreclosure and then Chapter 11 bankruptcy, with the project’s lender finally taking control of it in 2023.

Alex Witkoff, co-chief executive of the Witkoff Group in New York, said the golf club was a lure for the Banyan Cay project.

“If you live on Palm Beach Island or West Palm Beach, minutes from your home, you’ll have a whole new golfing experience,” Witkoff said.

The Banyan Cay Club was renamed Dutchman’s Pipe Golf Club, and the entry fee jumped to six figures, from $300,000 to $350,000.

Meanwhile, the former Banyan Cay Hotel is being completed and will open this year as The Belgrove, a luxury resort part of the Autograph Collection by Marriott.

Alexandra Clough is a business writer in Palm Beach Post. You can contact her at [email protected]. X: @acloughpbp. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.