Puget Sound Business Journal - Four Seasons - Mike Kunath
7/11/2003
Hotel investor group isn't finished
Puget Sound Business Journal by Mike Flynn
Friday, July 11, 2003
The group of local business leaders who failed in their bid to buy the Olympic Hotel may have seen a good investment opportunity, but more importantly they seem to have had a genuine focus on bringing ownership and control of the nearly 80-year-old luxury establishment home to Seattle to preserve the Four Seasons brand and five-star status.
The Toronto-based Four Seasons, which was 20 years into a 60-year management contract to operate the Olympic, was a committed investor and partner with the Seattle group that lost out in its bid to buy the hotel.
But it's a business tie that might not be over with the changing of the guard at the Olympic.
In fact, the investor group is now in discussion with the Four Seasons about a possible downtown Seattle location for a new hotel, according to one member of the group.
As the announcement of the $100 million sale of the Four Seasons Olympic to Legacy Hotels and the turnover of management to Fairmont Hotels and Resorts was being made last week, it was accompanied by clear signals from Toronto-based Four Seasons that it would be looking for another local hotel to carry its top-rated-hotel image.
And as the names of those who were part of the group seeking to return the Olympic Hotel to its local-ownership roots started to become known, some began to talk openly about the fact they would like to explore the possibility of moving the Four Seasons partnership forward now with a new-hotel plan.
But most of those investor-group members emphasized that they want the Olympic to remain a top-of-the-line hotel, even after it becomes the Fairmont Olympic.
"The Olympic was built in 1924 by 100 local business leaders who felt Seattle deserved a top-of-the-line hotel," said John Oppenheimer, president and CEO of Columbia Hospitality and one of the business leaders in the investor group.
"The same thing brought about this effort -- a group of business people who cared enough to try to preserve the Four Seasons Olympic for this community," he added. "We want that quality to continue, even if it can't be under local ownership."
It's an interesting group that came together in this effort, and it could reunite if Four Seasons makes a run now, or in the future, at a site in Seattle.
Former Seattle Mayor Paul Schell, who with Oppenheimer disclosed his involvement with the investor group last week, owns several prestigious inns on Puget Sound, including at two Langley and at Port Ludlow that are managed by Oppenheimer's firm.
Another member is Bruce McCaw, who with his brothers made his fortune with McCaw Cellular Communications and its eventual sale to AT&T.
Among others in the group are Tom Alberg, managing partner of Madrona Investments, who has made investments in several hotels; Greg Terry, a former Perkins Coie attorney, part of Madrona and a former member of the board of Mandarin Oriental Hotels; and Mike Kunath, principal with the Seattle investment firm Kunath Karren Rinne & Atkin.
Unico Properties, which manages the Metropolitan Tract of University of Washington-owned property in downtown Seattle (including the land on which the Olympic sits), is also part of the group, as well as California-based American Realty & Financial, which would have handled debt placement.
A number of others who wished not to be identified were also involved and assumedly would emerge again in the future if Four Seasons sees another opportunity here, now or in the future.
The Four Seasons Olympic is the state's only five-diamond hotel and has held that distinction continuously since its major renovation in 1982. Although some in the industry view the designations as "political as hell," having a five-diamond hotel is apparently important for a city's status as a convention and upscale travel attraction.
To read this on the web, visit: http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2003/07/14/editorial2.html?surround=etf