Historic St. Simons hotel primed for renovations under new owners

A historic beachfront golf resort in St. Simons Island has traded hands to a group looking to renovate and breathe new life into the property.

The King and Prince Beach & Golf Resort, which dates back to 1935, has been sold to a joint venture of private equity-backed real estate investment firm South Street Partners and TPG Real Estate Partners, according to a Tuesday announcement. The two firms will renovate rooms and common spaces, and elevate the resort and club offerings.

Further details and plans about the renovations are still in discussion, according to a spokeswoman for South Street.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. But multiple listings in Glynn County property records show the joint venture paid the seller, MMI Hospitality Group, more than $50 million.

The resort has 142 rooms, along with private beach villas and guesthouses. Rooms can range from the mid $200s to the $500s, depending on the dates of stay, size of the room and its location in the resort. Amenities include bars, restaurants and tennis courts. A few miles north of the hotel, the resort has an 18-hole golf course.

The property also includes for-sale beachfront condos and developable land.

Credit: Jennifer Brett, jbrett@ajc.com

This is the first time in nearly 45 years the property has sold. The seller, the Mississippi-based MMI Hospitality, will continue to operate the resort through its management division, according to the announcement.

“This is a unique opportunity to acquire an irreplaceable resort that is positioned for continued growth through its beachfront location in a supply-constrained market,” TPG Partner Tripp Johnson said in the release.

The King and Prince was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995, which allows the new owners to tap into historic tax credits when renovating. It is an example of early 20th century seaside resorts, and its exterior design appears much as it did upon its completion in 1941, according to its National Register application. The resort is built in the Spanish Colonial Revival style.

It dates back to the mid-1930s, when Morgan Wynne of Atlanta and Franklin Horne of Pittsburgh constructed the beachfront hotel at the end of Arnold Road on St. Simons Island. It was popular for its big band entertainment and dancing under the stars, according to its application.

The hotel was damaged by two devastating fires between 1935 and 1937. The two developers then rebuilt the hotel, adding an open courtyard, solarium and two lookout towers, and reopened it in 1941.

Then came World War II, when many resort hotels were occupied by the military. The King and Prince reopened to the public in 1947, now under the management of Henry Grady’s hotel corporation.

In the 1960s and 1970s, a handful of owners acquired and sold the hotel, which had declined in popularity. CNS Bank of Atlanta foreclosed on the property in the mid-1970s.

MMI Hospitality acquired the hotel in 1980 with an adjacent 25 acres. It built condos, villas and an atrium that doubled the size of the hotel. Renovations were completed in the early 2000s and throughout the 2010s.

South Street Partners’ portfolio includes other resorts throughout the Southeast, including the 3,000-acre, 140-room Barnsley Resort in Adairsville, and the Palmetto Bluff community in South Carolina’s Lowcountry. It also owns commercial and residential projects.

TPG Real Estate Partners is the opportunistic real estate equity investment platform under TPG, a private equity firm that invests in a range of industries, like media, travel, health care and retail.

Get all the news about the Atlanta Braves delivered each morning. Sign up for Braves Report.