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Hospitality: Richard ‘Dick’ Pickup

Dick Pickup sips an Arnold Palmer and wonders why all the attention.

The Business Person of the Year for the hospitality industry is with a reporter and photographer in a private dining room at Waterline, one of two new restaurants at the Balboa Bay Resort in Newport Beach. The resort—along with the Balboa Bay Club and its 145 apartments and 130-slip marina—is one of two signature waterfront properties of International Bay Clubs LLC.

The Newport Beach County Club rounds out the portfolio.

Pickup’s Eagle Four Partners investment group in Irvine bought International Bay Clubs in May 2012 for an estimated $170 million.

$65M Revamp

A $65 million revamp hit full stride in 2014 as the resort, private club and golf club got renovations, upgrades and expansions, with some of the work continuing this year. It’s no flip.

“This is for my family,” Pickup said. “We have no idea of wanting to sell.”

Pickup’s son Todd and his son-in-law Kevin Martin are principals in Eagle Four, and chief executive and president, respectively, of International Bay Clubs.

Buying the iconic properties was part of Pickup’s planning for his family’s future, he said. “This is work that can stand.”

It was also a way to expand his real estate holdings.

Longtime Investor

Pickup said he began to invest in hotels and resorts about 20 years ago with Timothy Busch, chief executive of Irvine-based Pacific Hospitality Group LLC, which has a small stake along with a co-management role at International Bay Clubs.

Pickup had already invested in stocks for decades, taking “significant positions in stable, deep-value” companies that included the parent companies of the Carl’s Jr. and Denny’s restaurant chains.

Pickup was a director and significant shareholder in Epicor Software Corp., formerly based in Irvine. Epicor was taken private in an $800 million deal in 2011 and is now based in Austin, Texas.

These days, Pickup owns part of each of the eight projects in Pacific Hospitality’s portfolio—seven open and one under construction at the Pacific City development in Huntington Beach.

The International Bay Clubs buy, meanwhile, deepened his OC ties. He was born in Whittier and moved here in the 1960s, playing golf back then at the old Newport Beach Country Club when, he said, it was the social center of the area and “there was no Fashion Island.”

The country club hosts the annual PGA Champions Tour Toshiba Classic and will get a new clubhouse this year.

Pickup’s deal for International Bay Clubs was “opportunistic”—a buyer from China who was in escrow dropped out of the deal suddenly. A friend of Pickup’s who knew International Bay Clubs’ longtime owner Beverly Ray Parkhurst connected the two.

The club and resort were in “a desirable location” with a storied history—a favored spot of Hollywood stars in bygone days.

There was room for improvement, according to Pickup.

“They were running a ‘good ol’ boys’ club,” he said.

Pickup’s longtime association with Busch tilted him toward the deal.

“Tim Busch had a smart management team,” and the time and price were right, said Pickup, who saw a chance to turn the club, resort and country club into premier properties for locals and travelers alike.

Changes

Pickup and his team have spent the past two years working on that vision, bringing changes that have included:

• More clearly separated operations of the private Balboa Bay Club from the public Balboa Bay Resort, including a redesigned exterior club entrance and a new resort lobby area;

• Upgraded amenities for the resort and the club, including a new member’s grill, children’s area, and member’s fitness room, and new restaurants, a coffee house, and a grab-and-go store for resort guests;

• Improvements to the 145 Balboa Bay Club Residences—rental apartments available to private club members.

Still in process are:

• Upgrades to the Balboa Bay Resort’s 160 guest rooms;

• A renovation of the spa the two properties share;

• A 50,000-square-foot clubhouse with a 4,000-square-foot ballroom, slated to open this year at the private Newport Beach Country Club.

Work at the resort and the club have comprised an investment of at least $25 million, with the new clubhouse at the private golf club budgeted at an additional $40 million, according to Eagle Four and Pacific Hospitality.

The companies said the meeting space at the resort will also be upgraded this year.

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