The real estate arm of financial giant UBS has purchased the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay Hotel from Hyatt Hotels for $58.5 million.

The 445-room bayfront hotel on the outskirts of Tampa International Airport sold last week. Hyatt will continue to manage the property under the same name.

UBS has committed to fund an extensive renovation that will take two years to complete, Hyatt said.

"The sale of Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay supports our strategy of recycling capital in order to expand the presence of Hyatt hotels in markets in which we are not represented or are underrepresented," said Stephen Haggerty, Hyatt's global head of real estate and development, in a news release. "While Hyatt expects to be in the market from time to time to buy and sell properties, we will maintain our presence in Tampa Bay with the Grand Hyatt."

The purchase is "a phenomenal deal'' for UBS, said Lou Plascencia of the Tampa-based Plascencia Group, which brokers hotel sales nationwide. UBS already owns Bayport Plaza, an 11-story office building beside the Grand Hyatt, and has resources to update the hotel, which opened in 1986, he said.

"UBS will do the right thing and invest the appropriate amount of capital to return that property to its prominent stature in the community,'' Plascencia said.

The hotel and office buildings were prized projects of Tampa developer Jack Wilson, who built them on a 35-acre nature preserve on Old Tampa Bay and restored the Fish Creek area just south of the airport, said Ron Rotella, executive director of the Westshore Alliance.

Steve Huettel can be reached at huettel@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8128.