Palm Springs Resort Hits Block for $12.5M

PALM SPRINGS, CA-The lender that foreclosed on the Palm Springs Marquis Resort & Conference Center has enlisted Marcus & Millichap to look for a buyer for the leasehold interest in the property, which is on a ground lease owned by members of a local Indian tribe.

The closed resort is owned by VIBC Services Co., an affiliate of El Centro-based Valley Independent Bank, which took possession of it at a foreclosure sale in January when there were no bids for the property. VIBC is asking $12.5 million for the leasehold, which it is marketing through the Ontario office of Marcus & Millichap with Teina Tahauri and Gordon Allred, hospitality investment specialists, as the listing agents.

Jack Brittain, chief credit officer of Valley Independent Bank, tells GlobeSt.com that the resort, which is at 150 S. Indian Canyon Dr. in Downtown Palm Springs, was already on the market, but the bank wanted to get national exposure. The Marquis occupies 3.5 acres of Downtown Palm Springs on the southwest corner of Indian Canyon Drive and Tahquitz Canyon Way, near the city’s convention center and a $90-million Spa Resort Casino expansion that is under way and scheduled to open in the fall.

The resort sits on land owned by members of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, who lease the ground to the hotel owner. The full-service hotel was constructed in 1988 and includes 35,000 sf of meeting and conference space, plus a restaurant and bar, a heated pool and underground parking. The hotel has been out of operation since shortly before the foreclosure sale in January, when it was closed by former owner Mark Bragg.