ILX surges despite slump in tourism

By Peter Corbett
Arizona Republic

Joe Anzures relaxes and enjoys the view at the ILX Los Abrigados Lodge in Sedona, Ariz. Through expansion and aggressive marketing, ILX Resorts Inc., has tripled its profits over the past three years. Gannett News Service

Now the Phoenix-based company, a niche player in the fast-growing time-share industry, is pushing ahead with more projects despite a tourism slump. The plans include entering the Rocky Point market in Sonora, Ariz., and building an ambitious project in Las Vegas.

It's a sharp acceleration for a 16-year-old company that has kept a low profile in recent years and grown slowly by acquiring resorts at favorable terms.

"We have just been very conservative and sleepy and watched opportunities and took advantage of some very good buys," said Joseph Martori, ILX chairman and chief executive officer.

ILX also has been buying back its stock over the past three years because it was "dramatically undervalued," Martori said.

ILX's biggest play is a $100 million retail, entertainment and golf project called Premiere Park east of the Las Vegas Strip near the MGM Grand Hotel. The company hopes to start construction this year, but observers wonder whether ILX can obtain financing for the unusual project.

Plans include an amphitheater, clown museum and 18 golf greens replicating famed holes in the United States and the British Isles, plus 36 holes up to 200 feet long that will allow players to pitch and putt.

"The beauty of this is you can get on and off this golf course in an hour," Martori said. "You play 18, go to the clubhouse, have a drink and go back to the casino."

Casino owners will love the Greens of Las Vegas course because the gamblers won't be gone for the five hours it takes to play a traditional round of golf, said Martori, a real-estate lawyer who founded the company in 1986.

In July, the company bought a 50-year leasehold interest in the 44-acre Premiere Park site.

Premiere Park includes a sales office that opened in January for ILX's time-share property in Las Vegas. In June, the company bought 600 time-share interests in the Carriage House, a nongaming hotel between the MGM Grand and Aladdin hotels.

Time-share development and sales in Las Vegas have heated up in the past three years and remain a fertile market, Martori said.

ILX's other new project is a move to acquire 21 acres of Coconino National Forest land in the Sedona, Ariz., area. The land is not suitable for a resort but could accommodate single-family homes, Martori said.

ILX has an inside track for the land near Oak Creek, Ariz., because whoever buys it has to gain highway access through ILX's Los Abrigados Resort site, Martori said.

In exchange for the national forest land, the Forest Service plans to have the buyer build a new visitor center along Arizona 179 near Jacks Canyon or Bell Rock and a new administrative office, said Ken Anderson, Sedona district ranger.

Neither Anderson nor Martori would estimate the land's value.

ILX already holds a strong position in Sedona with its time-share properties there.

The company's Sedona holdings include the Bell Rock Inn and three separate properties under the Los Abrigados name — a resort, inn and lodge. Sales for the Los Abrigados time-share units totaled $696,220 last year.

Elsewhere in Arizona, ILX has the Kohl's Ranch Lodge near Payson, Roundhouse Resort in Pinetop and a Varsity Club of America hotel in Tucson. A second Varsity Club is in South Bend, Ind., near the University of Notre Dame, where Martori attended law school.

After a slow start, time-share sales picked up during the first quarter and the company managed an 11 percent increase in profits. Martori expects continued strong results the rest of the year as the Las Vegas sales efforts kick in.