Why Margaritaville project ‘icing on the cake’ for Aimbridge founder

McKINNEY, Texas — When news came out in January of the $6 billion Preston Harbor development at Lake Texoma in Texas, which will be anchored by a $100 million Margaritaville resort, one name involved in the deal was familiar far and wide in the hospitality industry — Dave Johnson.

The founder of Plano, Texas-based Aimbridge Hospitality (he left the company in 2021 to pursue other projects) is now co-founder and managing partner at Horizon Capital Partners.

Johnson and McKinney, Texas-based Horizon Capital Partners are heavily involved in the Margaritaville development and several hospitality projects in North America.

Horizon Capital and its partners bought the 3,150 acres, including nine miles of shoreline around Lake Texoma (which sits on the Texas-Oklahoma border north of Dallas). The development includes plans for 7,500 homes, an active living component and a marina. However, Johnson said the best part is the $100 million hospitality component, a 250-key resort.

“The marquee piece, the icing on the cake, is the Margaritaville resort that’s right on the water,” Johnson said. “It’s probably one of the most beautiful pieces of property I’ve seen, and I’ve been in Dallas for 30 years. I didn’t realize that topography changes up there. Most of the shoreline we have is all natural sand beaches. It’s gorgeous.”

Margaritaville resort in Lake Texoma

Horizon Capital will own 10% of the development. They are the general partners and also the master developer. Other partners include Craig International, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, and N9 Capital Partners. Johnson said they will seek investors who want different pieces of single-family and vacation homes, multifamily, and active living.

The $6 billion Preston Harbor development at Lake Texoma in Texas will be anchored by a $100M Margaritaville resort.

“As we chop it up, we’ll have different partners,” Johnson said. “I anticipate that we’ll probably be larger investors in the Margaritaville investment and larger partners in the marina. Because that’s what we do… We’re trying to bring in partners that are all very complementary to one another.”

Johnson said they are putting infrastructure in the project now and, in the best-case scenario, will break ground at the end of 2025 with a 12- to 14-month build after that.

He said he didn’t even consider another hospitality partner for the resort.

“I’ve known the Margaritaville guys for 20 years. They’re good friends of mine,” Johnson said. “We really didn’t look at any other option other than Margaritaville because we think it’s the perfect fit.”

The placement of the property 75 miles north of Dallas might seem curious, but not when you take into consideration that billions of dollars of semiconductor plants are currently under construction in nearby Sherman, Texas, which will bring thousands of jobs to the area.

Johnson thinks Dallas-Fort Worth will be the market share leader in terms of draws to the resort, but he also said it will draw from as far away as Austin and Oklahoma, which will be pivotal as well. He thinks weekends will be full no matter what, but the key will be to pull business travel to the resort as well.

“There’s nothing like this right now,” he said. “We’ll do a lot of local business, and when I say local, I also mean that so many people use Lake Texoma as a vacation destination.”

On the Oklahoma side of the border, in a separate development, Orlando-based Hard Rock International is planning an 189-key hotel and conference center on Lake Texoma. The hotel will be part of a $1 billion, 2,700-acre master-planned community called Pointe Vista.

How Horizon Capital came together

Johnson and Mark Smith founded Horizon Capital in 2020. Johnson, who was still at Aimbridge at the time, founded as a capital partner and joined after he left in 2021. The company’s residential and office portfolio is largely focused in Dallas-Fort Worth, but its growing hospitality portfolio has properties across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

Horizon Capital acts as the general partner, puts up GP capital, and then sources, controls, and finances the deals. Johnson said the company doesn’t do a deal unless it has money in it. “I’m the guy coming in to raise capital for our LPs, and we do about $100 million a year in acquisitions,” he said.

He said he’s had many partners in private equity, many from his previous job at Aimbridge. “I brought along those investors into not only hospitality but also some of the land deals and some of the other deals we’re doing.”

Johnson said he has a host of hospitality investments in 20 properties, some with Horizon and some with him alone or through his family office, Three Angels Investment.

The limited partners that Johnson and Horizon have are primarily, on the hospitality side, private equity partners that Johnson has had a relationship with for 20 years and some family offices as well. 

He said the company currently has a limited asset management business but is also looking to expand that. 

Other projects

Another project that has Johnson excited is also located in DFW — a JW Marriott resort inside the Craig Ranch development in the fast-growing Dallas suburb of McKinney.

To me, there are no destination resorts [here], and what I like about the JW Marriott is it’s probably one of the most powerful brands in the industry... This is going to be a true destination resort that’s not just another golf resort.

Dave Johnson

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Johnson said Horizon is doing the deal with David Craig and Craig International (who are also partners in the Lake Texoma development).

The JW Marriott resort will have 290 keys, 48 residences and approximately 30,000 square feet of meeting space. Johnson said he hopes the project breaks ground by the end of 2024.

Horizon will have 10% equity and is actively raising LP equity. “We’d ideally like one [LP partner]. Maybe multiple, but we’d ideally like one. We don’t have that yet, but we’re in the process. We have an active dialogue going on as we speak.”

Dallas has one of the lowest percentages of luxury hotels relative to all hotels for top U.S. markets and Johnson said he was surprised there wasn’t a JW Marriott resort in the region. The hotel will be next to the TPC Craig Ranch golf course, which hosts the PGA’s AT&T Byron Nelson event in May.

“To me, there are no destination resorts [here], and what I like about the JW Marriott is it’s probably one of the most powerful brands in the industry,” he said. “Although we’ll have golf at the TPC Craig Ranch, we’re building a lazy river, pickleball courts, infinity pools, a spa and multiple restaurants. This is going to be a true destination resort that’s not just another golf resort.”

He said McKinney, which is offering incentives for the deal, has been a great partner. “Without the city involvement, I don’t think the project would make it,” Johnson said. “It’s one of those deals that we hope three, four years from now, we look at it [and say] ‘What a home run for everybody?’”

Johnson and Horizon have several other hospitality projects across the country, including:

Rio Las Vegas: Johnson is a general partner with New York City-based Dreamscape in the hotel. 

Sunday House: The 125-key hotel will be located in the Anaheim Resort area adjacent to Disneyland. Horizon has 50% equity in the deal with John Blanchard and BLVD Hospitality and hopes to break ground by the end of 2024.  

Hotel Cabo Wabo: The project in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, just broke ground and is scheduled to open by the end of 2024. The 120-key boutique hotel will have a Red Cup Saloon and be adjacent to the Cabo Wabo Cantina in the city’s downtown. Horizon is a 30% partner in the deal. Johnson is “geeked” about the project. “I think this is going to redefine downtown Cabo.”

The Nordic Point Lodge, an 80-room fishing and hunting lodge in Ontario, Canada, is a passion project for Dave Johnson.

Nordic Point Lodge: The 80-room fishing and hunting lodge in Ontario, Canada, is a passion project for Johnson, who personally owns 90% of the lodge and is located in a place he’s been going to for 30 years. He has an operating partner that has been his fishing guide for 15 years. Johnson said he estimates he put $1.5 million in capex on the project. “That’s one of those vanity investments for me. But it’s going to pay dividends, and it’s going to make a lot of money.”

The Georgian Hotel: The Santa Monica, California hotel is another project with John Blanchard and BLVD where Horizon is a 50% co-GP.  

Senza Hotel: Horizon is a 20% investor in the Napa, California, hotel.

Home2Suites Hilton: The 174-key hotel will be in Atlanta’s Buckhead region. Horizon is currently interviewing development partners. 

In the pipeline

Johnson said Horizon has about five active hospitality deals in its pipeline: two are new developments, and three are acquisitions.

Some of my partners for 20 years, I could never get them interested in Texas because they said, ‘Well, you guys just build something on every street corner. You just keep building and building.’ Now they all tell me, ‘We just raised another billion dollars, and we need to put the money in equity in Texas for some deals.’ Well, where were you 10 years ago?

Dave Johnson

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Johnson said he is optimistic about the near-term future of hospitality acquisitions. 

“If you have the right capital structure, I think it’s going to be a good next 12 to 18 months to acquire hospitality assets,” he said. “But you’re going to have to be patient, and you’re going to have do good due diligence.”

Regarding acquisitions, he likes “strong brands and strong partners, and I love the resort business right now, too.”  

And what geographic areas does he like? “I love the Southeast, and I love the Southwest. Texas and Florida are probably at the top of my list,” he said.

He said his partners have come around on Texas, mainly because of the job growth. 

“I’m an economist by schooling, and the number one key economic indicator is job growth. You create jobs, you create a lot of growth,” he said. “I own real estate in Florida. I own real estate in Texas. 

“Some of my partners for 20 years, I could never get them interested in Texas because they said, ‘Well, you guys just build something on every street corner. You just keep building and building.’ Now they all tell me, ‘We just raised another billion dollars, and we need to put the money in equity in Texas for some deals.’ Well, where were you 10 years ago?”