Bluegreen Vacations Buys $34M San Antonio Hotel

By Adina Marcut

Bluegreen Vacations Corp. has acquired The Éilan Hotel and Spa, a 165-key luxury boutique hotel in San Antonio for $34.3 million, previously known as a Marriott Autograph Collection Hotel. This transaction reflects the firm’s strategy of transforming hotels into vacation ownership resorts. Zions Bank will provide $24.3 million for the acquisition of the resort and another $3.2 million for future improvement costs.

“The Éilan Hotel & Spa is a natural acquisition for us. With over 85 percent of our owners in a four- to six-hour drive distance from our now 68 properties across the U.S., San Antonio is a drivable destination for many. As we continue our westward expansion, we focus on choice, flexibility and quality,” Ahmad Wardak, Bluegreen Vacations’ EVP of Corporate Development and Innovation, told Multi-Housing News. “The Éilan Hotel & Spa captures all three of these and marks out first property in Texas. More than 10 percent of our existing owner base live in Texas and its surrounding states.”

Located at 18603 La Cantera Terr., north of the River Walk—a public park along the San Antonio River—The Éilan is close to various shopping, dining and entertainment venues such as the San Antonio Museum of Art, the Texas wine country, a Six Flags theme park, the 36-hole La Cantera Golf Club, The Rim shopping center, Shops at La Cantera and Top Golf. Additionally, the hotel is some 20 miles from downtown San Antonio.

The Tuscan-inspired hotel offers 13 rooms totaling 20,000 square feet of meeting and event space for up to 165 people, a 12,000-square-foot fitness center and free Wi-Fi throughout the property. Other common-area amenities include:

• outdoor swimming pool with private cabanas
• spa with 10 treatment rooms
• two tennis courts
• indoor pool
• virtual golf room

Additional office space

The company plans to add 13,000 square feet of office space by the end of the year. Other upgrades will include improvements to the pool area (new landscapes, chairs and cabanas), as well as some minor changes to bring the property up to Bluegreen Vacations’ standards, Wardak says. BBX Capital Corp., a diversified real estate holding company, owns 90 percent of Bluegreen Vacations Corp. Bluegreen;s recent conversion includes the Blake in Chicago through its Fee-Based Services business.

“Additionally, this is a natural extension to continue to leverage our partnership with Bass Pro Shops, which has a store location directly across the street from the Éilan Hotel & Spa,” Wardak continues. “We also have a unique partnership with Choice Hotels. In the future, the Éilan Hotel & Spa will be a part of the Choice Ascend collection.” 

Image courtesy of Bluegreen Vacations Corp.