AREA Property Partners Assumes Ownership of Makena Beach and Golf Resort

NEW YORK and MAUI, Hawaii, Aug. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- AREA Property Partners today announced that it has assumed ownership of Hawaii's Makena Beach and Golf Resort from the lender, completing the foreclosure process.  AREA, an international real estate investor and fund manager, will own the property in a joint venture with Trinity Investments, LLC, a hotel investor and operator with extensive experience on Hawaii, and Stanford Carr Development, LLC, a Honolulu-based residential development firm.

Located on the south shore of Maui, the Makena Beach and Golf Resort is a 1,800-acre property with a hotel that has 310 guestrooms and suites overlooking the Pacific Ocean, two 18-hole, Robert Trent Jones Jr. championship golf courses, and 1,300 acres of land with entitlements for residential development.  The property went into foreclosure in September 2009 and was sold in a recent foreclosure auction, with the lender being the winning bidder for the property.  AREA, an investor in the lending trust, worked with the lender from the start of foreclosure to ensure that the hotel stayed open and guests continued to enjoy the resort experience, and was designated to assume ownership by the lender.

"Over the last year, many parties including the receiver, the lending trust and its agents and the hotel management company made extraordinary efforts to stabilize the hotel operations and position it for a transition to long-term ownership," said Bradford Wildauer, AREA partner.  "In assuming ownership of the property, AREA and our partners are expanding our commitment to the resort, its employees and guests.  We plan to revitalize Makena so that it continues to be a premier destination resort."  The property will continue to operate as Makena Beach and Golf Resort.

AREA and Trinity have a successful track record of joint investment in luxury resort properties in Hawaii, including current ownership of the Kahala Hotel and Resort on Oahu and previous ownership of the Fairmont Kea Lani Resort and Embassy Suites Kaanapali, both on Maui.

About AREA Property Partners

AREA Property Partners, formerly known as Apollo Real Estate Advisors, is a leading international real estate investor and fund manager on behalf of prominent government and corporate pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, foundations, endowments, and high net worth individuals.  Since the firm's founding in 1993, AREA Property Partners has overseen the establishment of multiple real estate funds and joint ventures totaling $13 billion in equity commitments for investments in the United States and globally.  Its funds have collectively invested in over 515 transactions with an aggregated value in excess of $60 billion. The firm has offices in New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Luxembourg and Mumbai.  The firm's Web site is www.areapropertypartners.com

SOURCE AREA Property Partners