Slatkin Family to Buy Dana Point Resort Hotel : Price Isn’t Disclosed; Luxury Facility Is Scheduled to Open Sept. 15

Southmark Pacific Corp., a Los Angeles-based real estate development company, confirmed Friday that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell a new 350-room resort hotel in Dana Point to a company owned by members of the Slatkin family of Beverly Hills.

The sale price was not disclosed. The hotel is being built at a cost of $50 million by a joint-venture partnership between an affiliate of Southmark and Jim Dieterich and Jim Youngblood, principals of Lantern Bay Resort Partners Ltd., which acquired the site and designed the hotel. Southmark subsequently financed development of the project.

Southmark officials acknowledged last month that the hotel, formerly called the Dana Point Royce Resort Hotel, was in escrow, but they refused to name the buyer. The facility is scheduled to open Sept. 15 as the Dana Point Resort Hotel.

Friday’s announcement confirmed reports that the buyer is the Edward Thomas Cos., a Beverly Hills firm headed by Edward and Thomas Slatkin. Their father, Burton Slatkin, was president and general manager of the landmark Beverly Hills Hotel for more than 20 years, and both sons worked there until the hotel was sold late last year to oilman Marvin Davis.

Thomas Slatkin said that although the sale will not be completed until sometime in the fall, the Slatkins assumed management of the hotel on Thursday from Servico Management Corp., a Southmark affiliate. Under ownership of Edward Thomas Cos., Slatkin said, the hotel will no longer be affiliated with the Royce hotel chain, a division of Servico, but will be operated as an independent establishment.

In the Orange County market, which has become saturated with new hotels, the Dana Point Resort Hotel will occupy a small niche as a pricey coastal destination for tourists and elite business groups, hotel marketing analysts said Friday. Its competitors will include the Newporter Resort in Newport Beach and the Ritz-Carlton in Laguna Niguel.

The Slatkin brothers said the hotel, with rooms priced from $140 to $900 a night, will be distinguished by its ocean views, “first-class service,” and “casual elegance.” Thomas Slatkin said the hotel will be less formal than the Ritz-Carlton.