Dallas firm buys Park Hyatt for record $145 million

BEAVER CREEK — A Dallas company spent a record $145 million for the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek because, they say, it’s worth it.

Dallas-based Ashford Hospitality Prime Inc. announced Monday that it had completed its purchase of the 190-room Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort & Spa for $145 million. That’s $766,000 per room, also a local record.

“The acquisition of the iconic Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort & Spa is an opportunity for us to acquire a premier resort with the best location in the very attractive Beaver Creek market,” said Richard J. Stockton, Ashford Prime’s chief executive officer. “This property fits perfectly with our strategy of owning luxury hotels and resorts and further diversifies our portfolio by establishing a presence in the highly sought-after Vail Valley market.”

Twice blessed

Park Hyatt general manager Mark Herron was managing the Four Seasons in Vail when it was sold in December of 2016. He migrated to the Park Hyatt in February.

“We’re excited about the opportunity to continue to enhance the property and the guest experience through the new ownership,” Herron said.

Park Hyatt will join a dozen Ashford Hospitality’s Prime properties, in the company’s luxury portfolio.

Ashford closed the Park Hyatt deal with what amounts to lightning speed in the world of commercial real estate. The company announced an agreement March 10, and Monday morning announced that the deal was done.

Ashford also appears to be putting $67 million of its own cash into the $145 million purchase package.

Ashford called the Beaver Creek Park Hyatt “a trophy asset” in Monday’s announcement.

The Park Hyatt earned Forbes’ Four Star rating and AAA’s Four Diamond rating. It was one of nine Colorado resorts on Conde Nast Traveler’s “Top Hotels in The American West,” part of its annual Reader Choice Awards.

“This is great for Beaver Creek,” Herron said.

More than money

Several things make a property like the Park Hyatt worth that much money, said local real estate developer Harry Frampton.

Cash flow is important, of course, but beyond that is location and whether that facility can be duplicated in a similar location.

“It’s a location that cannot be duplicated, or would very difficult to duplicate,” Frampton explained. “If you wanted to build another Park Hyatt next to the ski slopes of Vail, Arrowhead, Bachelor Gulch or Beaver Creek, it would be difficult or impossible.”

“I know it’s a great hotel in a great location,” Frampton said.

Ashford Hospitality’s $145 million purchase of the 190-room Park Hyatt eclipses last December’s $121 million record sales price for Vail’s Four Seasons to a New York company and its Asian partner.

The same company that brokered the Four Seasons sale, CBRE Hotels, also hammered out the $90 million for the 292-room Vail Cascade Resort and Spa, which is wrapping up a $50 million renovation. CBRE also brokered the $22.4 million deal for Vail’s Holiday Inn.

Staff Writer Randy Wyrick can be reached at 970-748-2935 or rwyrick@vaildaily.com.