Deal to buy Mission Inn passes milestone

The pending sale of the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa and the Sonoma Golf Club passed a milestone on April 2.
That’s the date on which Chicago-based Walton Street Capital gave up any right to reclaim $11 million in earnest money that it paid as part of a $620 million deal to buy the Sonoma Valley properties along with five other upscale resorts and spas and an office building from Fort Worth,Tex.-based Crescent Real Estate Equities, Co., according to filings with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.
“The key thing is that the money is … non-refundable at this point, the $11 million,” said Crescent spokesman Jeremy Sweek.
“They’re under contract to buy it, but we haven’t closed (the sale),” Sweek said.
The sale is expected to close sometime before June 30, but Sweek wouldn’t give an exact sale date.
Crescent owns a controlling 80 percent interest in the Mission Inn and Sonoma Golf Club, through a joint-venture arrangement; the remaining 20 percent is owned by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, which Crescent hired in 2002 to manage the resort and golf club.