Waterfront Resort Gets New Owners

NEWPORT BEACH, CA-A partnership headed by Goldrich & Kest of Culver City, Calif., is headed toward operating one of California’s toniest RV resorts, the Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort.

Orange County Supervisors have approved the purchase of the 75-acre resort on Newport Bay from the owner, Newport Dunes Partnership, by a partnership of Goldrich & Kest and Tahoe Shores.

The resort’s sales price has not been disclosed,and principals in thd deal could not be reached for comment, but hotel industry consultant Alan X. Reay, president of Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Atlas Hospitality Group, says the price is believed to be about $50 million.

Reay tells GlobeSt.com the resort is on land owned by Orange County, and that the lease runs until the year 2039.

“This is a very high end resort, so with the ground lease, they’re really buying the income stream,” Reay tells GlobeSt.com. He says the lease requires the operators of the resort to pay the county 6% of gross revenue.

Reay says the resort includes a marina, boat launch services, a pool, a spa, a fitness center, catering and banquet facilities, and other features that make it “one of the highest-end RV resorts in California.”

The former owners once envisioned a 400-room resort at the site, Reay says, but they abandoned those plans after voters in Newport Beach approved a ballot measure called the Greenlight initiative in 2000. The measure requires major projects in the city to be put to a vote of the citizens.

The deal between the resort’s owners and Orange County is a relatively common arrangement, according to Reay, who says much coastal acreage in Southern California is owned by government entities that lease it to private operators.

Upscale RV resorts can be very profitable, he notes, because the overhead is fairly low compared with overhead for apartments, office buildings, and industrial properties.