MONTAGE KAPALUA BAY ACQUISITION

Memphis, Tennessee-based KWC Management, the hospitality investment management company of Kemmons Wilson Companies LLC, announced on Wednesday November 15, 2023 that it acquired the Montage Kapalua Bay in Kapalua, Hawaii. To optimize the resort’s assets management, KWC Management will be bringing White Label Asset Management. Negotiations are reported to have begun in the spring and closed at $33 millions.

KWC Management is currently run by Charles Kemmons Wilson’s heirs and invests in hospitality assets across capital structures throughout the USA. A true mover and shaker, Kemmons Wilson founded Holiday Inn in Memphis in 1952, based on the lack of comfortable and affordable hotels at that time. The concept was revolutionary and by 1972, he was on the cover of Time Magazine and operated 1400 Holiday Inn hotels around the world.

In 2010, the global investment firm Centerbridge Partners formed Lantern Asset Management, the Seller, after acquiring the resort finance business of GMAC Commercial Finance.

Located on the premises of the former Kapalua Bay Hotel, which opened on October 12, 1978, and was demolished in 2005, the Ritz-Carlton Residences Kapalua Bay, now operated by Montage Hotels & Resorts, was built in 2007 and renovated in 2014. The property sits on a 24-acre oceanfront parcel on the northwest corner of Maui. Overlooking Namalu Bay and Kapalua Bay, the resort offers 146 residential-style multi-bedroom suites, most of them privately owned, an immersive cultural program, four restaurants, Montage’s Paintbox signature children’s program, and a luxury spa.

In 2013, as part of its hospitality and retail portfolio, Lantern Asset Management acquired the Ritz-Carlton Residences Kapalua Bay from Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in foreclosure for $100 million. Montage Hotel & Resorts bought a stake in the development for $24 million and took over the operations. Over the year, Lantern Management sold 84 oceanfront residences, as well as 21 of the 62 hotel units, to individual owners for over US$300 million.

“Since first visiting Hawai’i in the early 1980s, we have held a profound respect for the islands, their culture and people, and we have grown only more intrigued through the process of making Montage Kapalua Bay part of our portfolio,” Webb Wilson, CEO of KWC Management, said in a news release Wednesday and reported by Maui News. “In light of the current tragedy, we grieve for the people of Maui. We intend to find ways to be involved in caring for the displaced residents and community of West Maui. Under our ownership, the resort will continue to offer programming that enlightens guests on Hawaiian cultural practices and history and benefits their personal wellness and renewal.”