Who is the Texas billionaire buying Montage Laguna Beach for $650 million? – Orange County Registry

Texas billionaire Tilman Fertitta has acquired the Montage Laguna Beach Resort Hotel for a reported $650 million.

Fertitta’s company has confirmed the purchase of the high-end cliff-top hotel. The Montage sits on 30 acres of oceanfront property with 260 rooms including 60 suites, bungalows, and villas. At the widely publicized price, the deal marks the second-highest price per room in California history, according to Atlas Hospitality Group.

“I am truly excited to acquire this world-renowned property and to add one of America’s most iconic trophy resorts to our luxury hotel portfolio,” Fertitta said in a statement about the Montage. “I have been traveling to Laguna Beach for over 30 years. It’s one of my favorite places and one of the most beautiful parts of the world. Montage is a stunning oceanfront property and one of the leading hotel brands in the world.”

So who is Fertitta, who is worth $7.6 billion according to Forbes magazine?

He’s a restaurant guy

The 65-year-old hotel operator hails from Galveston, Texas and now calls Houston home.

He gained his first business experience in his father’s fish restaurant. He later was an early partner in the first Landry’s restaurant in the Houston suburbs.

Eventually he became the sole owner of the chain, which grew into a holding company for many other brands.

California concepts for his company’s 600 restaurants include Catch, Mastro’s, Morton’s, Del Frisco’s, The Palm, Del Frisco’s, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., Rainforest Cafe and Chart House.

He is also a hotelier

Montage isn’t Fertitta’s first high-end lodging deal.

In 2018, Fertitta built the upscale Post Oak Hotel in Houston. He owns 14 other hotels, ranging from the San Luis Resort in Galveston to the Hunting Inn in New York’s exclusive Hamptons.

He also owns Golden Nugget Casinos in Las Vegas, Laughlin, Nevada, Atlantic City, NJ, Biloxi, Miss. and Lake Charles, La.

He is also a reality TV star

Since 2016, CNBC’s “Billion Dollar Buyer” has featured Fertitta looking for partners for his empire.

The plot involves two companies seeking a “transformative” commission from Fertitta. The drama revolves around whether the billionaire offers either a deal or both, the groundbreaking deal.

Let’s not forget sports

Fertitta also owns the NBA’s Houston Rockets. In 2017, he paid $2.2 billion for the basketball team.

Why was the assembly sold?

It opened in 2003 and was purchased by Strategic Hotels in 2015 for $360 million – at the time the highest price paid per hotel room in California.

Strategic soon sold itself to New York-based Blackstone, which then sold Montage and other Strategic hotels to Anbang in 2016.

Dajia began exploring sales of Anbang’s luxury hotels in the US earlier this year. Anbang had agreed to sell the accommodation portfolio in 2019 in a deal that ultimately fell through when the pandemic hit. Dajia took over the properties when the Chinese government confiscated Anbang amid financial difficulties.