Dana Point’s ritzy St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort will get a new owner next month if a foreclosure-driven sale moves forward.

An affiliate of New York-based Citigroup Inc. is moving to foreclose on the 400-room hotel, one of Orange County’s highest-profile luxury resorts.

An auction of the St. Regis, which opened in 2001, is scheduled for July 7 at the local offices of First American Title, part of Santa Ana-based First American Corp.

The hotel, which is operates under Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.'s St. Regis brand, now is owned and run by Newport Beach-based Makar Properties LLC, in a partnership with a unit of San Francisco-based hedge fund Farallon Capital Management LLC.

Makar opened the St. Regis in 2001 and turned it into one of the county's poshest resorts, known for hosting lavish holiday parties and political fundraisers, as well as catering to corporate guests such as bailed-out insurer American International Group Inc. last year.

The resort, which sits next to Pacific Coast Highway near the border of Dana Point and Laguna Beach, counts three swimming pools, eight tennis courts, and a number of upscale restaurants, among other amenities.

A sale of the property also would include the Robert Trent Jones Jr.-designed Monarch Beach Golf Links, according to court documents.

Like other area hotels, the five-star property’s faced a tough time keeping occupancy levels high the past year due to the recession, in particular because of cutbacks by corporate-sponsored visitors.

Officials reported seeing a 20% drop in business in the months following AIG’s well-publicized corporate outing at St. Regis last fall.

The property’s owners are also faced with a dire economic environment that’s impacted the values of resort properties across the country.

The St. Regis has about $300 million worth of debt tied to it in loans held by Citigroup, according to foreclosure-related documents filed with New York courts.

The resort’s currently worth closer to $150 million today, given the current economic situation facing the hotel industry, said Alan Reay, president of Atlas Hospitality Group, an Irvine-based hotel consultancy.

“There’s a strong chance that a number of trophy properties will be going back to the lender. Properties have dropped so far in value” the past year," Reay said.