Tampa Bay Bucs executive buys iconic area hotel

A company led by Tampa Bay Buccaneers Co-Chairman Bryan Glazer on Tuesday acquired the famed Vinoy Renaissance Resort & Golf Club in downtown St. Petersburg.

The company, SCG Hospitality LLC, takes control of the 362-room hotel, together with a connected 18-hole golf course and 74-slip marina, amid a $50 million capital improvement campaign to enhance amenities and rooms alike.

Though the enhancements to the nearly century-old resort are slated to be completed next year, SCG Hospitality has retained Tampa hotel consultancy The Plasencia Group to provide asset and development management.

Glazer, in a statement, described the Vinoy as a “crown jewel” of St. Petersburg and the Tampa area.

Neither SCG Hospitality nor Plasencia officials would comment on the Vinoy’s purchase price or future plans for the property.

SCG Hospitality acquired the Vinoy from RLJ Lodging Trust, which absorbed the resort as part of a $1 billion, August 2017 purchase of FelCor Lodging Trust.

RLJ, which owns primarily mid-tier hotel assets in 26 states, indicated earlier this year that it would likely sell the Vinoy because it “did not align with its portfolio.” FelCor had owned the Vinoy since 2007.

RLJ retained commercial real estate brokerage firm Holliday Fowler Fenoglio to sell the property this spring. Daniel Peek, an HFF Senior Managing Director and leader of the firm’s hospitality practice, declined to comment on the sale of the 501 5th Ave. NE property.

RLJ officials could not be reached for comment. The company’s website does not indicate that a St. Petersburg property is part of its current portfolio. The company owns 15 other hotels in Florida, in Fort Lauderdale, Key West, Miami Beach, downtown Tampa and West Palm Beach.

With the sale, the Vinoy — which contains 60,000 square feet of meeting space — will continue to be managed by Marriott International Inc. under a long-term agreement.

“St. Petersburg is an alluring lodging investment market and the Vinoy’s ideal downtown waterfront location near so many walkable amenities makes it one of the most recognizable resorts in all of Florida,” Plasencia Group founder and CEO Lou Plasencia says, in a statement.

He adds that SCG will embark on further “thoughtful enhancements to improve the Vinoy and its amenities that will only serve to elevate the resort’s excellent reputation.”

The Vinoy’s sale comes amid a series of high-profile hospitality transactions along the Gulf Coast.

In April, a Dallas-based real estate investment trust paid $171 million for the 266-room Ritz-Carlton Sarasota and an affiliated beach club and golf course.

Also earlier this year, Host Hotels & Resorts spent $220 million to buy the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort & Spa as part of a three-property portfolio deal.

In April 2017, Host Hotels paid $214 million to acquire the renowned Don CeSar resort, also in St. Petersburg.

The Vinoy opened in 1925 and today is on the National Register of Historic Places.