First phase of Grand Pacific’s Carlsbad Ranch resort to be completed by year-end
March 25th, 2007 - Category: Real Estate, ResortA 350-room Carlsbad resort and 350-unit timeshare complex about 15 years in the making will see completion of its first phase by the end of the year.
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The 250 hotel rooms and 40 timeshare units are the first phase of the Sheraton hotel and timeshare vacation villas at Grand Pacific Resort’s $220 million development on Carlsbad Ranch.
Timothy Stripe co-owns Carlsbad-based Grand Pacific with David S. Brown, said JC Resorts. JC Resorts manages the Rancho Bernardo Inn, the Temecula Creek Inn and the Surf & Sand Resort in Laguna Beach. Grand Pacific (GPR) will co-manage the hotel.
The Carlsbad project on a 56-acre parcel — the timeshare portion is known as MarBrisas — is being financed by the Del Mar office of Columbus, Ohio-based Rockbridge Capital and by GMAC Mortgage of Phoenix.
Affiliated companies that perform key functions for GPR are Advanced Financial Co. LP (”AFC”) and Grand Pacific Resort Services LP (”GPRS”). AFC provides loan servicing and debt-collection services, while GPRS furnishes resort management, furniture purchasing and telecommunications services for the resorts. Stripe and Brown also own these companies.
The project has three general contractors. San Diego-based Hazard Construction Co. is handling sitework, the Davis & Adams Construction Co. of San Diego is building the vacation villas and Davis/Reed Construction of Del Mar is building the hotel.
The executive architect on the project is John Maddox of JPM Design of Carlsbad, with Nogle Onufer & Associates Architects and Kitabyashi Design Studio on the design team.
Along with the hotel rooms and timeshare villas, the project will include two themed restaurants, 30,000 square feet of meeting rooms and conference facilities, four swimming pools, six tennis courts, a 5,000-square-foot spa and a health club.
Next-door Legoland had originally intended to build the resort in connection with its theme park, but it wasn’t until Grand Pacific became involved in 1999 the project began to move. Grand Pacific bought the property and received formal approvals for its project in 2004.
As far as the construction of the Carlsbad resort, the costs have climbed significantly since Grand Pacific acquired the property.
“This was a $140 million project when we started in 2001,” Stripe conceded, adding that $220 million is his best guess now — a figure that could easily go higher.
Stripe, who formerly worked for James Watkins’ Winner’s Circle Resorts, and is currently a board member of the neighboring Gemological Institute of America, said his firm is spending about $25 million on infrastructure. While most of that is below ground, it will also include a private road to access Legoland’s back door.
Stripe, who combined with Brown has more than 20 years of hospitality industry experience, said market forces will dictate just how quickly the resort and timeshares will be constructed. If all goes according to plan, Stripe expects to have the project built out within eight years.
Grand Pacific and its affiliates have developed 10 resorts, some nearby the new Carlsbad project. One is the Grand Pacific Palisades Resort that has 161 timeshare villas and a 90-room hotel.
Others are GPR’s Seapointe Resort, with 95 vacation timeshare villas, and the Carlsbad Inn, with 132 vacation villa timeshares and 64 hotel rooms.
Grand Pacific also manages the 43-unit Southern California Beach Club timeshare in Oceanside and 53 timeshares at the Coronado Beach Resort in Coronado. It owns and/or runs multiple timeshare properties in the Squaw Valley/Lake Tahoe area.
Information from: San Diego Daily Transcript www.sddt.com/
