A real estate investment trust focused on experiential assets has partnered with developer Cabot to bring the company’s luxury golf and master-planned communities concept to more markets.
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VICI Properties Inc. entered into a purchase and sale agreement and $120M deferred loan facility with Cabot that will fund improvements at the developer’s first U.S. resort in Brooksville, Florida. Slated to open in 2023, Cabot Citrus Farms will include two 18-hole golf courses, a clubhouse, luxury lodging, health and wellness facilities, a village center and other amenities.
“We intend for Cabot Citrus Farms to be the first of many real estate investment opportunities that we will undertake with Cabot in the years ahead, domestically and internationally, through the Cabot-VICI preferred partnership as Cabot creates what we believe will be the world’s leading network of pilgrimage golf destinations,” VICI Executive Vice President and General Counsel Samantha Sacks Gallagher said in a statement.
Through this partnership, VICI is doubling down on its commitment to pilgrimage experiences, which CEO Edward Pitoniak described as the pinnacle of various recreational, leisure and cultural activities. Until this point, VICI’s portfolio has been made up of mostly gaming and hospitality operators, including Caesars Palace Las Vegas, Hard Rock International, MGM Resorts International and more.
“Over the last two years, as we’ve surveyed the global experiential landscape, we’ve become very interested in what we, at VICI, call pilgrimage experiences,” he said in a statement. “At VICI, we’re determined to become a preferred partner to these placemakers and experience creators.”
VICI will convert a portion of the loan facility into ownership of certain Cabot Citrus Farms assets, per the release, and enter into a 25-year, triple-net lease with the company that includes five-year tenant renewal options. Cabot co-founder and CEO Ben Cowan-Dewar said the company plans to apply what it has learned at its three resorts in Canada and Saint Lucia to its first U.S. location.
“Cabot’s mission is to set the stage for unforgettable experiences in extraordinary places,” he said in a statement. “Cabot Citrus Farms is an incomparable opportunity to bring to Florida our approach to golf place- and experience-making.”
