Vinik takes out $110M mortgage on Marriott Waterside hotel
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Oct 8, 2014

Tampa Bay Lightning Owner Jeff Vinik has taken out a $110 million mortgage on the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel and Marina. Vinik acquired the downtown convention hotel in October for $150 million in an all-cash transaction.

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. provided the mortgage, according to Hillsborough County documents filed Monday morning.

A Lightning spokesman declined comment.

It's a common practice in commercial real estate to pay cash for a property and then secure a mortgage. Paying cash allows a buyer to move quickly, but he can then lessen his risk in the deal and replenish his own reserves with the mortgage.

In addition to the Marriott, Vinik owns about 25 acres between downtown Tampa and Channelside. The Marriott will tie into the overall plans for that real estate- to be announced Dec. 17 - and will be complementary to the new hotel Vinik plans to build at Old Water Street and Florida Avenue.

Owning the Marriott gives Vinik an added layer of control for the district his team is master planning. In real estate, what makes a master plan attractive to investors, developers and tenants is that the plan is laid out from the get-go, so they know exactly where complementary - and competitive - components will exist.

The Marriott and its marina also occupy prime waterfront real estate, and Vinik and his team have said all along that their district will be waterfront centric.

Ashley Gurbal Kritzer is a reporter for the Tampa Bay Business Journal.