New Orleans Saints and Pelicans owner Gayle Benson and developer Daryl Berger have joined forced to purchase the Hyatt Regency, the enormous 1,193 key hotel on Loyola Avenue.

Fulcrum Hospitality, a New Jersey-based real estate management firm and an unnamed Nashville-based equity firm are also involved in the transaction.

This will be Benson’s first hotel acquisition. Berger has many local hotel investments, including the Windsor Court, Omni Royal Orleans, Omni Riverfront, Westin Canal Place the Shops at Jax Brewery, and the Thompson in Nashville, TN.

Little-Rock Arkansas-based Poydras Properties Hotel Holdings Co. is the seller. Poydras had the vision to purchase the 32-story hotel after Katrina and sink $200+ million into its renovation, expanding it to include 200,000 square feet of meeting spaces, several restaurants, 95 suites, and a fitness facility. Donahue Favret was the general contractor and Hogan Campis Architecture worked on the post-Katrina renovation

The Hyatt has the third-most hotel rooms in the city after the 1,572 key Hilton and the 1,333-key Marriott.

Sources tell CSB that the New Orleans Hyatt Regency has been one of the best-performing hotels in the Hyatt chain globally over the last several years.

This will be the first time the hotel is locally owned since it was constructed in 1976.

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