New owners field offers for Bacara
Six months after Ohana Real Estate Investors bought Bacara Resort & Spa for an estimated $104 million, industry sources say the luxury hotel is back on the market.
According to several Santa Barbara hotel operators, a major international hotel chain recently approached Ohana with an unsolicited inquiry to purchase the 360-room Goleta resort. The offer is estimated at between $180 million and $200 million, almost double the price Ohana is believed to have paid in July.
Industry sources said the talks between Bacara’s current owner and the prospective buyer are preliminary and no formal offer has been made. There have been no official negotiations between Ohana and potential bidders, the sources said.
Bacara officials said they had no comment on the possible sale.
In September, Ohana CEO Chris Smith told the Business Times he thought Bacara had great upside potential. “We’re investors. At the end of the day the idea is to invest capital and get a return. We feel that there’s potential for a significant return on our investment,” Smith said then.
The offer to buy Bacara came shortly after Santa Barbara’s Canary Hotel was put on the market for a reported $40 million, one source said. The attention on Canary, which is in the process of being sold to boutique chain Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, sparked renewed interest in the region’s high-end hotel market.
