It looks like the owner of Great Wolf Resorts may be posturing to sell the chain of family-oriented resort hotels to private equity firm Centerbridge Partners LP.
According to a report from Reuters, private equity firm Centerbridge Partners LP has reached a deal to acquire Great Wolf Resorts Inc. for $1.35 billion. Great Wolf is the nation’s largest operator of indoor water parks and is looking to make a move to Peachtree City.
The Peachtree City Council on March 19 granted a third postponement of the Great Wolf proposal that would establish one of its water park resorts on the 38-acre site on Aberdeen Parkway that is currently the home of the Dolce Atlanta-Peachtree Hotel and Resort.
Great Wolf is currently owned by private equity firm Apollo Global Management LLC, according to Reuters. Apollo took the company private in 2012 with a price tag of $703 million.
Reuters stated that Centerbridge prevailed in an auction for Great Wolf by agreeing to pay the equivalent of more than 10 times the company’s annual earning before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization.
As pertains to Peachtree City, Great Wolf is proposing to spend $40 million on construction, $32 million on personal property including amusements and $4 million on soft costs related to construction activity, according to a study by the Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute (GTEII).
The report concluded that with “nearly half a million visitor nights expected at full operation, it is estimated that the economic impact of the Great Wolf Lodge on Fayette County would be more than $75 million and would generate 400 new jobs in Peachtree City and nearly 770 jobs across the economy resulting in more than $20 million in local personal income.”
Great Wolf Lodge currently operates 13 family-oriented, all-suites water park resorts. The only facility in the Southeast is located in Charlotte, N.C.
Peachtree City Convention and Visitors Bureau Chair and Dolce General Manager Wende Blumberg at the CVB meeting in January that GE Capital, the owner of Dolce hotels, does not typically hold properties such as Dolce, adding that the property has been on the market.
Blumberg said that if the sale to Great Wolf does not go through that management has presented a plan to do extensive remodeling of the facility and that the owners would not put the property back on the market, according to the minutes of the January meeting.
Wyndham Hotel Group, a subsidiary of Wyndham Worldwide, announced Feb. 2 it had acquired Dolce Hotels and Resorts, a leading provider and manager of group accommodations with a portfolio of 24 properties and over 5,500 guest rooms across seven countries in Europe and North America, for $57 million in cash, according to a company press release.
The Dolce property has been up for sale for at least the past two years. The property is listed on the Fayette County tax rolls with a fair market value of $8.155 million. Dolce paid $30 million for the Aberdeen Woods Conference Center in 2007.
Great Wolf is proposing an upgrade and expansion totaling more than $70 million.
