The 65-room oceanfront resort located near Boothbay Harbor, Maine was previously owned by the GEM Hospitality Group. Scout Hotel & Resort Management has been engaged to be the property’s new operator. Wardman plans to modernize the resort’s dining room and create new meeting space.
The Wardman Group, a Washington, D.C.-based real estate investment firm, has acquired Ocean Gate Resort and engaged Scout Hotel & Resort Management as its operator. Ocean Gate is a 65-room waterfront resort just two-and-a-half miles from the popular town of Boothbay Harbor, Maine on Southport Island, which is accessible from Boothbay Harbor by a swing bridge. The resort opened in the mid-1950s and had been owned and operated by GEM Hospitality Group since 2006.
The 33-acre resort is open seasonally from May through October and offers guests an array of recreational facilities, including a heated pool and hot tub, floating dock with kayaks and canoes, a nine-hole miniature golf course, and a tennis and basketball court. The hotel’s guestroom options include standard guestrooms, one- and two-bedroom suites, and two stand-alone cottages, with almost all guestrooms featuring waterfront locations.
In the offseason, The Wardman Group plans to selectively upgrade Ocean Gate guestrooms and modernize the resort’s dining room, including the creation of a separate private dining room that can serve small group meetings. The new owner also plans to convert an underutilized fitness center into a second meeting room.
The Wardman Group is a design-driven real estate investment and development firm founded in 2016 that focuses primarily on value-add opportunities in the hospitality sector, including urban, suburban, and resort locations on the East Coast. Additionally, Wardman targets “small cap” commercial real estate properties in the Baltimore, Md.-to-Richmond, Va. corridor. In addition to Ocean Gate Resort, The Wardman Group’s portfolio includes the Fisher Inn and the Hadley House resorts in the Florida Keys, both of which are currently under redevelopment.
Scout Hotel & Resort Management is based in Falmouth, Mass. and specializes in operating seasonal resort properties. Its portfolio includes several Massachusetts properties, including the Harbor View Hotel and Kelley House Hotel on Martha’s Vineyard, Harborview Nantucket on Nantucket, Chatham Tides on Cape Cod, and also the Clifton Inn in Charlottesville, Va.
“Ocean Gate Resort has been a true labor of love for our family, and we couldn’t be more pleased with The Wardman Group’s interest in it,” said Frank Gaynor, Owner of GEM Hospitality Group after the completion of the sale. “We have complete confidence that Wardman and Scout are the right team to shepherd the resort into its next phase.”
Added Thad Paul, founder and CEO of The Wardman Group: “Ocean Gate Resort has many great qualities for families, couples and groups seeking a Maine getaway, and it perfectly balances a secluded setting with proximity to Boothbay Harbor. We appreciate the Gaynor family’s excellent stewardship of the resort over the past 11 years, and look forward to bringing it to its full potential.”
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