Billionaire Tilman Fertitta's hotel projects are gathering steam with the reported $650 million purchase of a prominent California resort coming after he obtained approvals for a large development on the Las Vegas Strip and took a big stake in Wynn Resorts.

Fertitta’s Houston-based holding company, Fertitta Entertainment, announced Monday that the billionaire owner of the NBA’s Houston Rockets and restaurant operator Landry’s has completed his acquisition of Montage Laguna Beach Resort, overlooking the Pacific Ocean at 30801 Coast Highway in the upscale Orange County city of Laguna Beach.

The sale price for the 260-room property, built in 2003 and renovated in 2019, was not disclosed but was first reported by Bloomberg News at approximately $650 million, with the news agency citing sources familiar with the deal when reports of a pending sale first surfaced in late October.

Public records show the property was acquired from China’s government-backed Dajia Insurance Group, the successor entity of the financially struggling Anbang Insurance Group, also based in China. During the past year, Dajia has been looking to sell off a large portfolio of former Anbang-owned hotels in the U.S.

According to brokerage and research firm Atlas Hospitality Group, which is focused on California hotel properties, the reported price for the Montage Laguna Beach would make it the state’s biggest hotel deal by total price in eight years, and the second-highest price ever paid in California for a single hotel, following the $787 million paid by Strategic Hotels & Resorts in 2014 for Hotel del Coronado near San Diego.

Atlas President Alan Reay, whose firm was not involved in the Laguna Beach deal, said it’s too soon to gauge whether the sale will spark other large hotel deals, especially at a time of sharply rising interest rates, even though Southern California’s tourism industry has been steadily rebounding during the past year from setbacks created in the first year of the pandemic.

“We have seen big demand for trophy hotels in irreplaceable locations and often buyers are all cash or carrying very little leverage, so increased interest rates have less of an impact,” Reay told CoStar News. “At the lower price points, increased costs of borrowing are definitely limiting sales volume.”

Situated on a coastal bluff, the 30-acre Laguna Beach property has received several national hotel industry designations, including being one of just six properties in the U.S. receiving Triple Five-Star status from Forbes. “I have been traveling to Laguna Beach for over 30 years,” Fertitta said in a statement Monday. “It is one of my favorite places to visit and one of the most beautiful areas of the world.”

Fertitta last month received approvals from Clark County in Nevada to build a 43-story, 2,420-room hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip. Filings with the county show Fertitta is planning restaurants, convention space, a 2,500-seat theater, an auto showroom and wedding chapel for the project at the southeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Harmon Avenue.

Fertitta’s company earlier this year purchased the 6-acre site for $270 million, according to public records. The new project would replace a complex that includes a Tex Mex restaurant, souvenir shops and a 1960s-era Travelodge motel that was demolished last week, according to local press reports. Construction timetables have not been announced.

Fertitta owns the Golden Nugget hotel-casino in downtown Las Vegas, and is now looking to considerably boost his involvement in the region with his recent purchase of a 6.1% stake in Wynn Resorts Ltd. A regulatory filing Oct. 19 did not list a purchase price but said Fertitta acquired 6.9 million shares. Wynn Resorts stock closed Monday at just over $78 per share.

Fertitta’s company did not respond to CoStar News’ requests for comment on the California hotel purchase or plans for the Las Vegas project and investments.