Konocti Harbor Resort and Spa is being listed for sale by Irvine-based Atlas Hospitality Group, a brokerage firm specializing in hotel sales in California.
Earlier this fall a Palo Alto firm was considering buying the resort, as Lake County News has reported.
Atlas Hospitality President Alan Reay told Lake County News that the company is just beginning the listing process.
In the sale, Reay said Atlas is representing WhiteStar Advisors of Boca Raton, Fla., which is running the resort for Local 38 Convalescent Trust Fund, which has owned the resort for about 50 years.
The asking price?
“There is no asking price on it,” said Reay.
Reay said the large property is appealing to many different kinds of buyers, from hotels to developers, at different price points.
That, he said, led to the consensus that there should be no specific asking price in order to encourage the various interests.
Atlas' listing on Konocti Harbor offers 58 acres for sale, with 255 guest units, a 100-boat slip marina, a 5,000-seat amphitheater, 20,000 square feet of meeting space, a 1,000-seat indoor showroom and a 19,000-square-foot spa.
That actually only accounts for roughly half of the resort's overall acreage. Reay said the union wants to keep some vacant acreage and the location of a children's camp.
The camp, dubbed “Camp Konocti,” is entering its 44th year, according to the Local 38 Web site, and is reportedly for the children of Local 38 members.
“We're basically selling the site that has the improvements,” said Reay.
Reay described the resort as having a wonderful location on “irreplaceable real estate.”
Atlas hopes to find the right buyer, who has the time and money to put into the property's renovations, said Reay. “If someone does that there's an opportunity to make a lot of money.”
The resort is being sold without management or franchise encumbrances, said Reay, which means that if a new buyer comes in they don't have to retain management staff.
“From an investor standpoint it's great because it offers them a lot of opportunities,” said Reay.
Different interests abandoned resort purchase
Konocti Harbor has so far fallen out of escrow twice this year.
In the spring, Kenwood Investments decided against purchasing the property in the wake of community resistance to a plan to locate an Indian casino at the property, as Lake County News previously reported.
The resort, which also was at the heart of a federal lawsuit settled earlier this year, was then considered for purchase by Page Mill Properties of Palo Alto for a reported $25 million price tag, according to court documents.
As part of the federal settlement, Local 38 agreed to appoint WhiteStar Advisors of Boca Raton, Fla., as an independent fiduciary to oversee the resort's operations and its sale, according to court documents.
Jim Bishop, managing director for WhiteStar, told Lake County News this summer that the company has been working for about two years on the resort's sale.
In taking over the resort's operations, Bishop said WhiteStar planned to keep the existing management and operation in place, with the resort's president and chief executive officer, Greg Bennett, acting as their representative at the resort.
Konocti is in the middle age range for some resort properties; Bishop said there are some resorts more than 100 years old that remain premier destinations, while some newer south Florida results are not in good shape.
Bishop said the market for resorts such as Konocti Harbor “generally is pretty good,” with buyers usually investment funds or institutional and real estate investment trusts – not unlike the resort's current owner.
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