Tee Time: Sheila Johnson Buys Tampa's Innisbrook Golf Resort

Johnson's Salamander Hospitality Buys Innisbrook For $35M

BET co-Founder and WNBA Mystics President & Managing Partner Sheila Johnson, through her Salamander Hospitality, has bought Innisbrook Resort & Golf Club near Tampa for $35M from Golf Trust of America, according to Thomas Heath of the WASHINGTON POST.  Innisbrook’s signature Copperhead course hosts the PGA Tour’s Pods Championship.  Salamander President Prem Devadas said that Innisbrook “will dovetail with the celebrity glamour generated by Johnson’s interests" in the Mystics, Wizards and Capitals.  Devadas said Salamander envisions Innisbrook "becoming one of the top golf destinations in the country. ... We are in a growth mode.  I expect in the next five years we are going to add several other very special properties to our portfolio.”  Heath notes former Redskins players Darrell Green, Art Monk and Charles Mann were present at yesterday's announcement of the acquisition (WASHINGTON POST, 7/17).  Salamander said that Johnson becomes the first African-American woman to own a championship-level golf course.  Johnson said that Salamander “immediately started renovations that will reach ‘into the millions.’”  Devadas said, “The prior ownership has not had the ability to renovate the property and over the course of time, it has gotten a little tired” (WASHINGTON TIMES, 7/17).