Starwood Capital Group is an investment firm headquartered in Miami Beach, Florida. It is managed by Barry Sternlicht. It was co-founded by Sternlicht and Robert Faith in 1991. In 1993, Faith left Starwood to found Greystar Real Estate Partners. History In 1991, at the age of 31, Sternlicht launched the firm to buy apartment buildings that were being sold by the Resolution Trust Corporation, created by the federal government to hold and liquidate the real estate assets owned by failed banks after the savings and loan crisis. Sternlicht raised $20 million from the families of William Bernard Ziff Jr. and Carter Burden of New York to fund these purchases. In 1993, the company contributed the apartment portfolio to Sam Zell's Equity Residential in exchange for a 20% stake in the company. In 1994, in partnership with Goldman Sachs, the company purchased Westin Hotels & Resorts in a $561 million transaction. In January 1995, Starwood purchased Hotel Investors Trust, an almost-bankrupt real estate investment trust, and in 2005, acquired Groupe du Louvre, which owned crystal maker Baccarat. Groupe de Louvre was sold in 2015, but Baccarat was retained by Starwood. In 2009, a consortium led by Starwood Capital bought 40% of the loan portfolio of Corus Bankshares, which suffered from bank failure. In 2010, the company lost an auction to buy Extended Stay Hotels, which was in bankruptcy. Starwood unsuccessfully filed an objection against the sale to Centerbridge Partners with the bankruptcy court in Manhattan. In the same year, Starwood received a majority ownership stake in Riviera Holdings, owners of the Riviera hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada and Riviera Black Hawk in Black Hawk, Colorado, after a bankruptcy reorganization. In 2012, the company began construction of a chain of hotels under the name of Baccarat Hotels and Resorts, featuring crystal chandeliers from Baccarat. In 2015, the firm sold its flagship Baccarat hotel in New York City. In the same year, the group partnered with Toll Brothers to develop the Pierhouse at Brooklyn Bridge Park. In December 2013, Starwood Global Opportunity Fund IX, in partnership with Vencom, bought 7 retail properties from the Swedish retail group Kooperativa Förbundet for 3.9 billion Swedish kronor, or $593.3 million, and sold these in 2016 and 2017. That year, the company acquired seven malls from Westfield Group, including Great Northern Mall in North Olmsted and Franklin Park Mall in Toledo, with properties in Indiana,