St. Regis Monarch Beach Turned Over To Citigroup
Filed under: Journeys
Last month I mentioned that the owners of the St. Regis Monarch Beach in Dana Point, California had defaulted on a $70-million loan. The Orange County resort, infamous for being the site of the $443,000 AIG retreat after the federal bailout, was scheduled for a foreclosure auction. The auction didn't take place and the resort was officially turned over to the lender of its $70 million mezzanine loan, Citigroup. The Wall Street Journal reports that deal took place after weeks of negotiations between Citigroup and the owners of the hotel, Farallon Capital Management LLC and Makar Properties LLC. A Citigroup spokesperson has said that the foreclosure acquisition will have no impact on the daily operations of the resort which will carry on as usual.
The St. Regis has a 400-room hotel, a golf course, a private beach club and several restaurants including Michael Mina's Stonehill Tavern. The property is current on two other mortgages totaling $230 million and was refinanced in 2007 resulting in the $300 million in debt. The five-star hotel is located near Laguna Beach, California which is also home to Ritz-Carlton and Montage luxury resorts. Occupancy rates were down in the first quarter of the year but if this weekend's traffic in the area was any indication, those numbers should be on the rise once again.
