Sonoma Mission Inn, Sonoma Golf Club may get new owner

The Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa and the Sonoma Golf Club may be getting a new owner.
The high-end luxury resort in Boyes Hot Springs with a private, members-only golf course on Arnold Drive is one of six resort and hotel facilities owned by the Fort Worth, Tex.-based Crescent Real Estate Equities Co that are poised for sale for $550 million to Chicago-based Walton Street Capital.
That’s according to a March 15 regulatory filing made with the federal Securities Exchange Commission, or SEC.
The SEC filing states that Walton paid an “earnest money” deposit of $11 million to Crescent. Walton had the right to reclaim that $11 million during a due diligence period that ended Monday.
So is Walton going through with the purchase?
The Sun couldn’t get confirmation at press time Tuesday.
A receptionist at Walton Street Capital in Chicago hung up on a Sun reporter saying, “Unfortunately, we don’t make any comments to the press. Thank you.”
And a Crescent spokesperson in Ft. Worth couldn’t be reached for comment.
So check the Sonoma Valley Sun’s Web site Thursday (today) for an update at www.sonomasun.com.
Crescent owns 80.1 percent of the Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa through a joint-venture arrangement, the SEC filing said.
Crescent is selling off its hotels and resorts so it can focus on managing its office buildings. Crescent will use the $550 million from the deal to retire debt, said an article from the RealTimeTraders.com Internet news service.
Crescent’s net income plunged in 2006 to $1.4 million, down from $70 million in 2005, the article said.
According to a March 15 article from Commercial Real Estate Direct, an Internet news service, Walton Street Capital is buying the six Crescent resorts and hotels through a $1.6 billion investment fund. The fund also owns such hotels as the historic 565-room Drake Hotel in Chicago.
In 2002, Crescent hired Fairmont Hotels and Resorts to manage the Sonoma Mission Inn, said the inn’s general manager Kelley Cosgrove.
Cosgrove, a Fairmont employee, declined to make a statement Tuesday regarding what effect – if any – the sale would have on the inn’s operation.
“I don’t think anything’s been finalized at this point. Until it’s confirmed, I can’t speculate on it,” she said.
An official at the Sonoma County Assessor’s office said that the Sonoma Mission Inn is assessed at roughly $37 million and pays about $212,000 annually in property tax. The 177-acre Sonoma Golf Club and its recently remodeled club house is assessed at $10.2 million and pays about $83,000 annually in property tax.
If the properties sell for more than that, their assessed value could increase, which would mean the owner would pay more in property taxes.
The other resorts that Crescent is selling to Walton Capital as part of the $550 million deal are the Ventana Inn and Spa in Big Sur; the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort and Spa, in Avon, Colo.; the Omni Austin hotel, the Denver Marriott hotel; and the Renaissance Houston hotel, the SEC filing said.