Dana Point’s Ritz-Carlton sells for an estimated $600 million

KSL Capital Partners, a Denver investment firm that specializes in high-end hospitality, just scooped up the luxury resort known as the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel. Despite the name, the 373-room property sits on ocean-view land in Dana Point, California. CoStar broke the news of the deal, which hotel watcher Alan Reay of Atlas Hospitality estimates at about $600 million.

The resort is fresh off a $50 million facelift last year. The Ritz-Carlton is trophy real estate in an irreplaceable location, Reay told the Orange County Register. That is in very high demand, and buyers are willing to pay a premium.

When the Ritz-Carlton opened in 1984, it helped kickstart Orange County’s luxury tourism scene. KSL knows this stretch of coast well because the firm once owned the luxury resort across the street. Ownership of the grand hotel has changed hands many times over the decades.

Strategic Hotels & Resorts paid $330 million for it in 2006. Blackstone scooped up Strategic Hotels for $6 billion in 2015. A year later, Blackstone flipped the portfolio to China’s Anbang Insurance Group for $6.5 billion.

After running into financial trouble, Anbang was seized by the Chinese government. The sale to KSL is part of China’s move to unload that massive hotel portfolio. In 2022, the Chinese insurer sold the nearby Montage Laguna Beach to Texas billionaire Tilman Fertitta for about $660 million. KSL is now back on the block where it used to own the neighbors.