Unimat Holdings purchased the 471-room Guam Reef Hotel in mid-March.
Towa Real Estate Co. Ltd. the seller announced March 18 it had sold shares of its subsidiary Towa Reef Hotel Inc. to Okinawa-based Unimat. The sale of shares entitles Unimat to the remaining 17 years of the lease with a rental understood to be in excess of $2 million a year.
Three lots of land totaling about 25 858 square meters or about 6.4 acres at the property are owned by Pete P. Ada chairman of Ada’s Trust & Investment Inc.; Ada’s Trust & Investment Inc.; and the Archbishop of Guam.
Norio Takizawa assistant general manager of the Reef told the Journal that Japan-based Unimat is active in the hospitality industry. “I understand their main business is hotel and restaurant management.” Unimat also has an active real estate portfolio.
Takizawa said the hotel had not yet received instructions from the new owner and did not know what the plans were for the management team. Likewise he was unable to confirm whether plans to outsource cleaning and catering services at the Reef would continue or whether the Request for Proposal for those sources would be withdrawn.
Takizawa said he did not know the sale price of the hotel.
W. Nicholas Captain president of The Captain Co. and Captain Realty Advisors said “This is another aftershock to the bursting of the Japanese economic bubble. This real estate company has been in trouble for some time. Now the forced sale has finally taken place. It’s an unusual ownership position with significant risk considering the short time remaining on the lease and the relatively high ground rent payments.”
The hotel was built in 1974 and has about 170 employees.
The Reef is just one of a number of Tumon hotels that have been sold or are changing hands.
As first reported in the Journal these include Pacific Islands Club Guam (See “Gigantic Orix wants PIC Guam ” in the Jan. 24 issue of the Journal.); Holiday Inn Resort Guam and Garden Villa (See “Chos add Holiday Inn to their hotel collection” in the Dec. 27 issue of the Journal.); the Hilton Guam Resort & Spa (See “Bargain buy ” in the Dec. 1 2003 issue of the Journal); and the Tropicana Hotel (See “Tropicana sold building to be demolished ” in the Sept. 8 2003 issue of the Journal.)
