Affiliates of Gencom, one of North America's leading luxury hospitality and residential/mixed-use real estate investment and development firms, has announced that through its partnership with Private Equity Group (PEG) the sale of the 295-room (including 22 suites) Marriott Grand Cayman Beach Resort to affiliates of London & Regional has been completed.
"This has been a classic case of taking a great resort with a number of difficult problems and making it into something few could foresee," said OJ Buigas, CEO of Private Equity Group. "Through active asset management and a vision of what the property could become, the resort has performed magnificently to become one of the prize assets of the Marriott resort portfolio. We wish the new ownership continued good fortune and prosperity with this hotel gem as they take it through its next phase."
According to their press release in Business Wire, the 295-room (including 22 suites) beach resort is located directly on Seven Mile Beach, the property is in one of the highest barrier to entry markets in the Caribbean. After all the recent renovations are done, the resort received prestigious awards for operations, design and renovation. These awards include the Marriott's 2014 Hotel of the Year Award within the Caribbean/Latin American Region and Marriott's Mustang Award for Innovation for its "Beach House" design inspiration.
"The Marriott Grand Cayman Beach Resort is a world-class destination that was struggling from the after-effects of Hurricane Ivan and needed a bold, new vision when we acquired it in 2006," said Tom Bezold, Gencom CFO. "We completely repositioned the property, partnered with PEG in 2011 and refinanced the property's debt with the first CMBS loan outside of the US since the Great Recession. In 2013-2014, Ownership invested more than $15 million to redefine the property. We believe the property still has excellent upside potential, but it no longer meets our core investment strategy. Our plan is to continue to aggressively seek hotel real estate investment opportunities that match up with our turn-around expertise."
The cost of the acquisition was not disclosed. CBRE's Miami Office brokered the sale, while the Marriott International will continue to operate the beach resort.
