KSL Capital Partners seems to have a thing for the neighborhood where Pacific Coast Highway meets Niguel Road.
The Denver-based investment firm that specializes in high-end hospitality just scooped up the curiously named luxury resort, the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel. Despite the name, the property sits on ocean-view land in Dana Point.
CoStar broke the news, yet the price and buyer’s comments remain under wraps. Hotel watcher Alan Reay of Atlas Hospitality, however, estimates a sale price of about $600 million for the 373-room resort, which is fresh off a $50 million facelift last year.
The Ritz-Carlton is “trophy real estate in an irreplaceable location,” Reay said. “That’s in very high demand, and buyers are willing to pay a premium. KSL is one of the leaders in this luxury segment of the market.”
When the Ritz-Carlton opened in 1984, it helped kickstart Orange County’s luxury tourism scene. The bluff-top perch above Salt Creek Beach offers tough-to-beat Pacific views.
And KSL knows this stretch of coast. The firm once owned the luxury resort across Pacific Coast Highway, now the 400-room Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach Resort & Club.
Trading places
Like many local luxury resorts, ownership of the Ritz-Carlton has been fluid.
Back in 2006, Strategic Hotels & Resorts, a Chicago-based luxury hotel investor, paid $330 million for the hotel.
Fast forward to 2015: Blackstone scooped up Strategic Hotels for $6 billion.
A year later, Blackstone flipped most of Strategic Hotels, including the Ritz-Carlton and Montage Laguna Beach, to China’s Anbang Insurance Group for $6.5 billion.
But Anbang hit financial trouble and was seized by the Chinese government, which now controls Strategic Hotels through another insurer.
The Ritz’s sale to KSL is part of China’s move to unload the Strategic Hotels portfolio.
In 2022, the Chinese insurer sold the 260-room Montage Laguna Beach to Texas billionaire Tilman Fertitta for about $660 million.
Frequent owner
KSL is no stranger to Dana Point resorts.
In 2014, it paid $317 million for the luxury hotel across PCH from the Ritz-Carlton, then known as the St. Regis Monarch Beach.
“One of a handful of properties that has it all — luxurious accommodations and world-class amenities, in an irreplaceable location steps from the Pacific Ocean, all in an easy drive from Southern California or flightad
In 2016, KSL decided to drop St. Regis and run the resort that opened in 2001 on its own. Three years later, KSL sold it to Ohana Real Estate Investors for $497 million.
Good timing, since the pandemic slammed the tourism industry the next year.
In 2020, Ohana also put the resort under Waldorf Astoria management.
Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com
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