Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc. is, for the second time in as many years, rumored to be exploring a sale of its high-end hotel portfolio. The deal could change ownership of two of Orange County’s toniest resorts.
Chicago-based Strategic Hotels, which owns 18 hotels in the U.S. and Europe, has reportedly hired an investment bank to help market itself for a deal, according to a report last month by Bloomberg.
The company didn’t comment on the report, which helped push up its stock to about $3.8 billion last week, its highest valuation since January.
A likely sale price for the company’s assets wasn’t mentioned in the Bloomberg report.
Strategic Hotels reportedly made a similar sale exploration—that time according to Reuters—in June 2013, but a deal was never made. The company at the time was considered undervalued compared to other hotel stocks.
At the time of 2013 reports, Strategic Hotel’s only local holding was the 396-room Ritz-Carlton in Dana Point.
The company doubled up on its OC holdings earlier this year. In January it announced the $360 million acquisition of the Montage Laguna Beach. The 250-room, oceanfront resort sold for a little more than $1.4 million a room, one of the highest ever per-room prices in the U.S. for a hotel sale.
The blockbuster deal has proven to be successful so far, Strategic Hotels Chief Executive Raymond Gellein said during his company’s latest earnings call with analysts in May.
“The Montage had its best February and March in the history of the hotel,” said Gellein, who noted the company’s good relationship with Irvine-based Montage Hotels & Resorts, which continues to manage the hotel following the sale.
Montage Hotels & Resorts is “undoubtedly one of the best luxury operators in our business,” said Gellein, who also noted that enhancements are being planned for the Laguna Beach property.
Strategic Hotels bought the Montage Laguna Beach from Ohana Real Estate Investors LLC, an investment group funded by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, who’s among those now interested in acquiring Strategic Hotels, according to last month’s Bloomberg report.
Ohana Real Estate also owns Travelodge Laguna Beach. Omidyar’s company paid a reported $190 million for the Montage in 2002, just prior to the 30-acre resort’s 2003 opening.
Laguna Hills Sale
Lakehills Corporate Park, a five-building office campus in Laguna Hills, has traded hands for $46 million.
Cruzan, a San Diego-based real estate owner and investor, paid about $206 per square foot.
The campus’ two-story buildings total about 223,500 square feet. It was 78% leased at the time of the sale.
The property is on about 16 acres, a few blocks from the intersection of Moulton Parkway and Lake Forest Drive, and just south of the Irvine Spectrum.
The deal is the first in Orange County for Cruzan, which is planning to redevelop the campus for small and midsize tenants.
CBRE Group Inc.’s Kevin Shannon, Paul Jones, Bob Smith and Blake Bokosky represented seller AEW Capital Management.
Fontana Find
Irvine-based Bascom Group LLC has bought a 344-unit apartment complex in Fontana.
The company paid a little under $31.2 million for the Courtyard Senior Apartments, or about $90,500 per unit.
The complex “is one of the best values we’ve seen in Southern California for some time,” Bascom Senior Principal Scott McClave said in a statement. The new owners plan a renovation of the property.
It’s Bascom’s third independent senior living community buy and its 14th recent apartment acquisition in California, according to the company.
Gary Mozer and Katie Rodd of George Smith Partners arranged an undisclosed amount of debt financing for the purchase, and OneWest Bank provided the new loan. Stephen Peters of Melody West was the broker for the sale.
