Montage resort sold for $360 million

A luxury beachside resort in South Laguna has been sold for $360 million to a Chicago-based real estate investment company focused on high-end hotels, according to a news release.

Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Inc., announced Jan. 29 on its website that it had purchased the 250-room Montage Laguna Beach from an affiliate of Ohana Real Estate Investors, LLC.

The resort will continue to be operated by Montage Hotels & Resorts, company founder and CEO Alan Fuerstman said in a statement.

“Our associates and guests will continue to enjoy business as usual going forward under the current leadership team led by Managing Director Rick Riess,” Fuerstman said. “Strategic is committed to the long-term success of Montage Laguna Beach and shares our ongoing commitment to the outstanding hospitality that has been established at the resort since its inception.”

Strategic, which owns the Ritz-Carlton in Dana Point and the Hotel del Coronado in Coronado, funded the acquisition, in part, through issuance of 7.3 million shares of common stock to an affiliated designee of the seller, priced at $13.61 per share for an implied value of $100 million, according to the release.

The Montage, which opened in 2003, features 16,000 square feet of indoor meeting space, a 20,000 square-foot spa, and multiple acclaimed food and beverage outlets.

“The opportunity to acquire a hotel of this prominence is exceptionally rare and we are delighted to work with the team at Ohana on this transaction, as well as beginning what we believe will be a long and successful partnership with Montage,” Strategic’s chairman and CEO Raymond Gellein said in the news release.