The Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation in Highland paid $33.2 million for the Mission Inn Hotel & Spa in downtown Riverside from Kelly Roberts, according real estate transactions filed in late May.
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Financial terms of the transactions were not disclosed by Roberts or the tribe when the deal was announced in early May. The purchase of the historic Mission Inn, which adds to the growing portfolio of hotels from California to Washington, D.C. owned by the tribe’s San Manuel Investment Authority, closed May 28.
The approximate sale price of the Mission Inn was confirmed by the Riverside County Assessor and Clerk Recorder office in three separate transactions filed by entities controlled by Roberts, a former Orange County resident and billionaire.
“The sale price is within $1,000 of the actual price,” said Melissa Garcia, chief deputy assessor-clerk recorder for Riverside County.
The compiled price tag for the Mission Inn property will likely be firmed up in the next few months after the county office processes documents filed to ensure the proper chain of title and the property’s assessment value. “This could take a few months,” she said.
One filing transferred ownership to San Manuel for the 238-room Mission Inn hotel along Mission Inn Avenue, while a second includes an adjacent parking garage in the block bounded between 5th and 6th streets north of the inn, and east and west by Main and Orange streets. A vacant lot and annex building within the block that has a bookstore and offices of the Mission Inn foundation and museum also were sold to San Manuel.
Based on transaction fees and sales taxes calculated from the filed records with Riverside County, while
The values were calculated based on a documentary transfer tax, which is a one-time fee charged by state or local governments when real estate ownership transfers and a deed is officially recorded, and Riverside city taxes, according to Garcia.
A third transaction involved the sale of the alcoholic beverage license to Mission Inn Riverside BevCo LLC, a limited liability company run by San Manuel, for $331,394.16, according to .
The transactions were filed by the seller, including the Roberts-run Historic Mission Inn Corp. and Mission District Associates LLC — both of which list Roberts’ lawyer, Patrick O’Brien, as the agent authorized to receive legal notices, lawsuits and official government correspondence on behalf of her businesses.
The Mission Inn Riverside LLC, a limited liability company set up April 24 by the tribe in Highland, is listed as the buyer of the Mission Inn and related properties in the heart of Riverside’s downtown, according to the documents filed with the county and corporate records filed with the California Secretary of State.
“The San Manuel Investment Authority is continuing to abide by the confidentiality of the agreement and aren’t able to provide additional comment,” said Kenneth Shoji, a spokesman with San Manuel.
Spokespersons for Roberts and her attorney did not respond to requests for comment.
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Also see: Riverside’s historic Mission Inn sold to San Manuel Nation
Complex property sale
Steven Nguyen, a spokesman for the Riverside County Assessor, Clerk and Recorder office, cautioned that, while the three transactions appear to be the only ones made in connection with the sale to San Manuel, there could always be others that emerge in a complex transaction.
“It is important to note that large or complex property transfers may be recorded through multiple documents,” he explained. “As a result, the information reflected in any single recorded document may represent only one portion of the overall transaction.”
Also see: Statue of former owners departs Riverside’s Mission as sale closes
Duane Roberts and his wife and co-owner Kelly Roberts were instrumental in rescuing the Mission Inn from potential demolition.
The hotel, which was shuttered in the mid-1980s, went through several ownership changes before Duane Roberts bought the Mission in 1992 for .
The Riverside Redevelopment Agency bought the Inn in 1976, and then sold it in 1985 to the Carley Capital Group. Carley began a major renovation of the historic hotel before going bankrupt in 1988. Chemical Bank and the redevelopment agency completed the $50 million restoration before Duane Roberts bought the hotel, according to a Press Enterprise report last year.
Duane Roberts, who aided in the revival of downtown Riverside with the reopening of the hotel, died Nov. 1, 2025.
Kelly Roberts said in an early May statement to the Southern California News Group that she decided to sell the Mission Inn and relocate to Palm Beach, Florida “as I begin the next chapter.” Florida is a popular haven for the rich as it levies no luxury, personal income or estate taxes on residents who live there more than half the year.
Tribe’s hospitality expansion
The tribe’s latest acquisition follows a trend over the past quarter-century in which it has diversified its holdings.
Its expansion began in the early 2000s with the purchase of the Four Fires Residence Inn by Marriott in Washington, D.C., along with partner tribes, and the Three Fires Residence Inn hotel in downtown Sacramento.
In 2021, the San Manuel Band bought the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas for $650 million, allowing it to expand its gaming and casino ambitions outside of California.
The tribe’s portfolio of hotels also includes Dana Point’s 400-room Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach Resort & Club, the Bear Springs Hotel in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains in Highland, and the Draftsman in Charlottesville, Virginia.
In 2016, the San Manuel Band bought the Arrowhead Springs Hotel from Cru, formerly Campus Crusade for Christ, which owned the 1,900-acre property in San Bernardino’s Waterman Canyon since 1962.