Blackstone buys troubled Sunseeker resort for $200M

CHARLOTTE HARBOR, Florida — Blackstone Real Estate-affiliated funds have acquired the 785-key Sunseeker Resort Charlotte Harbor from Las Vegas-based Allegiant Travel Co. for $200 million following a short, troubled history for the company’s first hotel venture.

The resort, which opened in December 2023 in southwest Florida as the airline company’s first hotel venture, spans 22 waterfront acres on Florida’s Gulf Coast with multiple F&B concepts, two pools, a spa, a fitness center, a rooftop adult pool and bar, a championship golf course and more than 60,000 sq. ft. feet of combined indoor meeting space.

The property has been facing major financial challenges since it opened with Allegiant Executive Chairman and outgoing CEO Maurice Gallagher telling analysts during the company’s Q2 2024 earnings that all options were on the table for the property, including a potential sale. At the time, the company expected a cash loss of $15 million for 2024.

At Allegiant’s latest quarterly earnings, the company said the resort had Q1 occupancy of 70% with an ADR of $284 [not including resort fees] and had an adjusted EBIDTA of $4.8 million. Allegiant also reported a $3.4 million non-operating loss due to the extinguishment of debt secured by the property.

Allegiant has built a fantastic property, and we look forward to bringing our extensive experience with large-scale resorts to Sunseeker.

Scott Trebilco

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Allegiant announced plans for the resort in 2017 and broke ground in 2019. At the time, the company stated that it expected to spend approximately $500 million to build the property. However, when COVID hit, work on the property was suspended for 15 months. By 2022, Allegiant had warned investors that the final cost would likely exceed $600 million. When the property finally opened in late 2023, the Wall Street Journal reported that Allegiant’s final cost was $720 million. The property was also impacted by Hurricane Ian in 2022, resulting in $35 million in damage. It also suffered property damage related to Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024, which was approximately $5.7 million. 

For its Q4 2024 earnings, Allegiant recorded an impairment charge (an accounting measure that reflects a decrease in the value of an asset below) for the property of $321.8 million.

Blackstone’s transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2025.

“The acquisition of this brand new, highly amenitized resort demonstrates our strong conviction in hospitality and travel and the continued growth in group-oriented destinations,” said Scott Trebilco, senior managing director at Blackstone Real Estate. “Allegiant has built a fantastic property, and we look forward to bringing our extensive experience with large-scale resorts to Sunseeker.”

Gregory Anderson, CEO at Allegiant, said, “Blackstone’s extensive hospitality holdings and their execution capabilities make them the ideal counterparty for this transaction and also to help realize the full potential of Sunseeker Resort. Furthermore, it supports Allegiant’s strategy centered around the airline and we plan to use the proceeds from the sale to repay debt and strengthen our balance sheet.”