Kimpton Group Holding Closes $203 Million Hotel Investment Fund

Boutique leader’s fourth discretionary investment fund will be used to acquire more than $500 million in hotel real estate

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kimpton Group Holding LLC, the parent company of Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, LLC, the largest player in the boutique/lifestyle hotel segment, has announced it has closed its fourth institutional real estate fund and its third fund within the Kimpton Hospitality Partners series. KHP Fund III, L.P. (“KHP Fund III”), has $203 million in committed equity capital with the goal of acquiring more than $500 million worth of hotels over the next three years.

“Over the past eight years, we have built a solid track record with the KHP funds, acquiring excellent assets that meet our investment goals, while continuing to build and expand the Kimpton brand as well”

Kimpton is the only branded hotel company with institutionally backed, fully discretionary, dedicated real estate investment funds for the acquisition and development of boutique hotels. The company’s first institutional fund, the $122 million Kimpton Development Opportunity Fund (“KDOF”), was established in 1997 and acquired/developed nine properties. Similar to KDOF, the three subsequent KHP Funds (the first of which closed in 2005) have been raised to acquire, develop and redevelop boutique/lifestyle hotel properties in select major metropolitan cities and resort areas across North America.

Today, Kimpton is a fully integrated hotel and restaurant company with its proprietary Kimpton brand, an experienced operations team, in-house development expertise and a national acquisitions team. In addition to its fund acquisitions, Kimpton provides management services to owners of boutique hotels throughout North America, with approximately three-quarters of its portfolio third-party owned.

“Raising capital for real estate investment has been more challenging than ever over the past few years, which is why we are especially proud to announce the close of this new fund,” said Kimpton CEO Mike Depatie. “The discretionary nature of our fund provides us a distinct advantage in acquiring properties because we are able to offer sellers and developers a quick and certain close, something that few others can match.”

In line with the first two KHP funds, KHP Fund III will follow a multi-pronged strategy for making new investments:

• Acquire non-hotel buildings that can be converted to Kimpton hotels, including “adaptive reuse” projects, such as KHP II’s new Hotel Monaco Philadelphia that opened in October 2012 in the city’s historic Lafayette building, which was previously an office building.
• Acquire existing hotels that either fit the Kimpton model, such as the recently added Hotel Wilshire in Los Angeles (also a KHP II acquisition) or properties that are underutilized and where opportunities exist to reposition them as a Kimpton hotel, such as the Hotel Palomar in Washington, DC (formerly a Radisson).
• Build new boutique hotels in targeted urban and resort areas in North America.

“Over the past eight years, we have built a solid track record with the KHP funds, acquiring excellent assets that meet our investment goals, while continuing to build and expand the Kimpton brand as well,” said Depatie.

Kimpton Expanding Footprint via Acquisition and Management Contracts

KHP Fund III has already acquired a property in Savannah Georgia – The Mulberry Inn, a 145-room hotel in downtown Savannah, located in an historic site that once housed a livery stable, a cotton warehouse and later a Coca-Cola bottling plant. The property was converted into a hotel in 1982. The Mulberry Inn is owned in a joint venture between KHP Fund II and KHP Fund III, and will undergo a major renovation in the latter half of 2013 to convert into a Kimpton hotel.

Savannah’s Mulberry Inn is just one in a series of new hotels Kimpton has opened or announced in the past year. Since January 2012, the company has added seven hotels to its roster, including acquisitions of the River Place Inn in Portland, the Canary Hotel in Santa Barbara, the Hotel Monaco Philadelphia and the Hotel Wilshire in Los Angeles, along with management contracts for Washington, D.C.’s Donovan House, the La Jolla Hotel and the Hotel Palomar Phoenix.

Kimpton also recently announced it has won the management contract for two upcoming new hotels in San Antonio and Milwaukee, marking the third Kimpton hotel in Texas and the latest in the brand’s longstanding history of adaptive reuse projects, and the first-ever Kimpton hotel in Milwaukee.

ABOUT KIMPTON HOTELS & RESTAURANTS

San Francisco-based Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, a collection of boutique hotels and chef-driven restaurants in the US, is an acknowledged industry pioneer and was the first to bring the boutique hotel concept to America. In 1981 Bill Kimpton founded the company that today is well-known for making travelers feel welcomed and comfortable while away from home through authentic and unscripted customer care, stylish ambience and embodying a certain playfulness in its approach to programs and amenities. Adjacent to the hotels are locally-loved, top-rated, Kimpton restaurants. Kimpton leads the hospitality industry in ecological practices through its innovative EarthCare program that spans all hotels and restaurants. Market Metrix, a recognized authority and leader in feedback solutions, consistently ranks Kimpton above other hotel companies in luxury and upper upscale segments for customer satisfaction. Privately held Kimpton was recognized by Fortune Magazine as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work for in 2012. The company operates 58 hotels and 67 restaurants, bars and lounges in 24 cities. For more information, visit www.KimptonHotels.com or call 1-800-KIMPTON.