Papa John’s founder is investing in a new luxury resort community in Deer Valley.

Pizza magnate John Schnatter last week closed on the purchase of three units, totalling nearly 16,000 square feet, at the ritzy St. Regis Deer Crest Resort for $23 million.

Schnatter bought two penthouse properties with five bedrooms each, plus a 3,700 square-foot residence with four bedrooms. The penthouse units, located on the 11th floor and each about 6,000 square feet in size, have 16-foot vaulted ceilings, outdoor stone fireplaces and hot tubs, and views of the Canyons Ski resort and Jordanelle Lake.

“He’s been skiing in Deer Valley for years and comes to Utah at least five times a year. He loves hotel living and fine dining,” said Ann MacQuoid, a real estate broker with Prudential Utah Real Estate, which represents the resort. “He might sell one of the penthouse units, but it’s not on the market currently.”

Schnatter’s primary residence is in Louisville, Ky.

Managed by Starwood Hotels & Resorts, St. Regis opened around Thanksgiving last year and features 93 residences and hotel condominium units, more than 14,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space, a signature Jean-Georges Vongerichten restaurant and Remède Spa, as well as personalized butler service.

“The Deer Valley and Park City housing markets have been slow in terms of the number of sales, but it hasn’t crashed. The resort community doesn’t have a lot of spec buildings,” MacQuoid said.

“John bought the property when it was under construction in 2005, and went under contract in 2006,” he said.

Schnatter’s acquisition, which comes up to $1,435 per square foot, is almost twice that of the price of several residences at the nearby Silver Strike Lodge at Empire Pass that were auctioned Sunday by Ironwood Resort Development. The auctioned properties sold for an average of $759 per square foot.

Eight Silver Strike properties, which include two two-bedroom units, two three-bedroom and three four-bedroom residences, plus a two-story penthouse, sold for about $13 million in total. Each property sold for between $1.29 million and $1.89 million, which represents a 30 percent discount from what they were listed for originally, MacQuoid said.