ORLANDO, FL— Like most owners and developers, Richard Kessler, chairman/CEO of The Kessler Enterprise, Inc./The Kessler Collection, always has a lot going on. Over the past 18 months, however, the executive really has been pushing the entrepreneurial envelope. He’s been mapping plans to expand his proprietary Grand Bohemian brand, taking on third-party management contracts, divesting properties that no longer fit his signature Kessler Collection portfolio, adding more that do, and even keeping it simple by still developing franchise properties. He’s also managed to launch a website—KesslerLiving.com— offering furniture, art and other items featured in his Collection hotels for retail sale. “Significant” to his business during the period is achieving what he calls “a good benchmark for the quality and detail of a comprehensive, 21st Century, in-town resort development,” found in his Mansion on Forsyth Park, a luxury level adaptive-reuse and new-construction in Savannah, GA, that incorporates not only a food and beverage operation, but a cooking school that is open to both guests and the community. He also added the Poseidon Spa, which is serving as the signature spa brand for his other properties in select markets, and an art gallery, a feature that reflects Kessler’s passion for collecting. “The whole idea in Savannah was: ‘Let’s build something that really has many parts to it,” said Kessler. “To me, that’s a significant benchmark for us because that was the first time that we put all those elements together in one project.” He noted it’s a model he intends to selectively use in future developments. “You have to be in a certain type of market to make all that work and be meaningful.” Kessler has an eclectic mix of properties that he has made work for more than 22 years since launching The Kessler Enterprise. Among his earlier properties are The Castle-A Doubletree Hotel and the Sheraton Studio City. He placed both Orlando properties on the market last month in order to better define his portfolio of largely upper-upscale and luxury properties. Earlier this year, Kessler also entered into a management agreement— his first— with Dharma Living Designs to operate El Monte Sagrado Living Resort and Spa in Taos, NM. By May, Kessler’s company began managing El Monte’s sister property, the historic 104-year-old Sundy House in Delray Beach, FL. Last month, Kessler acquired El Monte Sagrado as a majority shareholder and added it to the Kessler Collection, launching plans to add by next year 35,000 square feet of spa facilities, banquet and meeting space and raise the rooms inventory from 36 to 84 rooms, and fill the hotel with art from Kessler’s collection. “We identified a property we believe has real upside, long-term potential,” said the executive. Toward that, Kessler acquired eight additional acres surrounding the property. “So we can come in at a later date and add a residential component to it, which will probably be interval ownership,” he said. The company overall is doing more ground-up development, with about six projects in design currently going through the approval process in various U.S. cities. “It’s a little bit off our focus but we wanted to do the next tier down in downtown Orlando (Kessler’s flagship Westin Grand Bohemian in located there) and cover that part of the market,” said Kessler. Another project is located proximate the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. It will be a independent boutique property and part of The Kessler Collection. The 120-room hotel will be positioned as a four-diamond-quality facility. In Savannah, GA, Kessler will begin construction in early 2007 on a 75-room, upper-upscale, boutique hotel that will incorporate his proprietary restaurant, Rocks Modern Grill. The developer was able to snag an open site on the high-barrier-to-entry river front adjacent the Hyatt Hotel. “We’re going to do a rooftop lounge overlooking the river,” he said, noting the name would be dubbed Rocks on the River. A linchpin in Kessler’s pipeline is the multi-million-dollar Grand Bohemian Hotel and Residences, whihc will be under construction in St. Petersburg, FL in spring 2007. The second of his luxury brand, the 32-story property will offer 264 rooms and 52 pure condominium residences priced from $500,000 to $2 million in a mixed-use model when it opens in 2009. Kessler intends to keep expanding the Grand Bohemian in the months ahead. There are plans for a 275-room property in Atlanta.
