Qatar-backed Hotel Firm Buys Montage Beverly Hills in Record Deal
Qatar-backed Hotel Firm Buys Montage Beverly Hills in Record Deal
The Real Deal
12/24/19
Qatar-backed Hotel Firm Buys Montage Beverly Hills in Record Deal
On a per-key basis, deal is one of the biggest hotel transactions in US history
By Pat Maio
Qatar-backed hotel firm Maybourne Hotel Group has added the exclusive Montage Beverly Hills hotel to its portfolio, in a deal that values the 201-key property at over $400 million.
Alan Reay, president of Atlas Hospitality Group, told The Real Deal that the deal is a record breaker in California, with rooms at the luxury resort now valued at $2 million.
The Montage sale beat out the previous record of $1.7 million per room back in 2015 when L.A. businessman David Geffen sold the 47-room Malibu Beach Inn for $79.9 million to the Mani Brothers, according to Reay.
Maybourne – which owns London luxury hotels Claridge’s, the Connaught and the Berkeley – announced the Montage Beverly Hills acquisition on Saturday, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the sale. The seller was Ohana Real Estate Investors, which developed the hotel back in 2008.
Financial terms were not disclosed, and Maybourne and Ohana both declined to comment.
The deal is the first in the U.S. for London-based Maybourne, which appears to be backed by one of the richest families on earth. Back in 2015, the billionaire Barclay brothers sold a 64 percent stake in Maybourne to Constellation Hotels, which has been linked to former Qatari prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani (better known as HBJ), according to Bloomberg.
L.A.-based Ohana, owned by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, owns several luxury resorts across the country, including the Montage Laguna Beach, a 68-room luxury boutique in St. Helena in Napa Valley and the Montage Deer Valley ski resort in Utah. The firm also has a stake in the San Vicente Bungalows in West Hollywood, a private membership club and luxury boutique hotel that opened last year.
The Montage is located in Beverly Hills’ Golden Triangle neighborhood. It features a 20,000-square-foot spa and rooftop pool that overlooks Rodeo Drive. Rooms on weekends can cost up to $10,000 a night.
