Ronald Leventhal, formerly CEO of locally-based Tempus Resorts and chief financial officer of Central Florida Investments Inc., heads Celebrity Resorts' newly formed acquisition team as chief strategic officer. Charles Rybos, a former Marriott Vacation Club financial officer, is Celebrity's chief financial officer and C. Craig Lewis is the chief operating officer.
Formerly known as Resort World, Celebrity Resorts kept a low industry profile over the last five years, selling off much of its holdings to Sunterra Co. which moved its headquarters to Las Vegas early last year. But the company has decided to step up to the buying table again this year, local leisure industry brokers tell GlobeSt.com.
From a US Bankruptcy Court offering, Celebrity Resorts has purchased the management rights and unsold inventory of six properties from Las Vegas-based Leisure Resorts. The 18.3-million acquisition price equates to about $3 million for each of the properties.
The acquisition gives the company a staff of 500 and a nine-property portfolio stretching from Orlando to Hawaii. The acquired properties are in Honolulu; Reno, NV; New Jersey; Indian Shores, FL; and two assets in Steamboat Springs, CO. In Central Florida, the company operates timeshare sites in Kissimmee, Lake Buena Vista near Walt Disney World and Palm Coast, north of Daytona Beach.
The 30-year-old Celebrity Resorts organization, founded in the Caribbean in the 1970s by retired dentist Neil Meyers, moved its operations to Orlando in the 1980s. At that time, Resort World was one of four major timeshare developers in the Orlando area, competing against Orange Lake, Westgate Resorts and Vistana, area brokers following the timeshare industry tell GlobeSt.com.
Continue Reading for Free
Register and gain access to:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
