A company that owns multiple luxury golf resorts and communities bought the Sawgrass Marriott Golf Resort & Spa and the Cabana Beach Club in Ponte Vedra Beach on Nov. 4 for $148.04 million.
South Street Partners bought the properties through DFH-SSP TPC M Propco LLC. The deed was recorded Nov. 5 with the St. Johns County Clerk of Court.
South Street Partners says it is a private equity real estate investment firm headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Charleston, South Carolina, with more than $2 billion of assets under management.
South Street Partners owns luxury golf course resorts, including Kiawah Partners in Kiawah Island, South Carolina; Naples Grande Beach Resort in Naples; PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens; and The King and Prince Beach & Golf Resort in St. Simons Island, Georgia.
The Sawgrass Marriott, at 1000 TPC Blvd., is next to TPC Sawgrass Golf Club, home of The Stadium Course and The Players Championship golf tournament. TPC Sawgrass is owned by the PGA Tour, but Marriott guests are offered exclusive privileges with the golf complex.
South Street says it “acts as a principal investment platform as well as an operating partner and co-investor for institutional partners and family offices interested in special situations, opportunistic and value add real estate investments in the Southeastern United States as well as select continental US and international markets.”
Brookfield Corp. of Toronto, with offices in New York City, sold the properties through CWI Sawgrass Hotel LLC.
Brookfield acquired the hotel in 2022 when it bought Watermark Lodging Trust.
The Sawgrass Marriott, built in 1987, has 511 guest rooms, 24 suites and 80 villas. The hotel has a 108,616-square-foot conference center, two pools and snack bars. It also includes Vernon’s First Coast Kitchen and Bar and Alice and Pete’s Pub. There is also a lobby bar and a coffee shop.
The sale includes the Cabana Beach Club, the oceanfront property at 619 Ponte Vedra Blvd.
Cabana Beach Club, built in 1983, is a private resort open to members and hotel guests. It has the first-floor Sea Porch restaurant, a pool, spa and a private beach.
In 2023, the restaurant was renamed 1912 Ocean Bar & Rooftop and is open to the public. It is Ponte Vedra’s first rooftop bar.
1912 Ocean Bar & Rooftop was scheduled to open about 2020 but the project was delayed more than 2½ years after sustaining serious damage caused by Hurricane Irma in 2017. It resulted in the razing of the original Cabana Club.
The new building is 12,000 square feet with a total capacity of 496. The first-floor Sea Porch restaurant, which is private dining for members and resort guests, holds 184.
The 1912 Ocean Bar & Rooftop on the second floor has a capacity of 168 and the rooftop bar can accommodate 144.
The properties last sold for $122 million in 2014.