MB Capital President David Hood, right, and General Manager Gloria Cavanagh at the former Hyatt hotel in Garapan.
THE former Hyatt Regency Saipan may reopen in November under a new brand name, MB Capital LLC President David Hood said on Friday.
“Can we open in November? I think we can,” he said in an interview with Variety. “We’ve just received our first Memorandum of Understanding on Wednesday, so you know, we’re negotiating and trying to figure out who we’re going to be. … Our options are Sheraton or Westin, which is all under the Marriott brand family, and then also the Hilton brand. We’re looking at them, so we’re going settle in there somewhere, we just can’t disclose it yet,” Hood said.
In October 2021, Saipan Portopia Corporation, which was doing business as Saipan Hyatt Regency, signed a 40-year land lease agreement with the CNMI government. The new land lease contract commenced on Jan. 1, 2022, but Hyatt, “citing global shifts and continued challenges impacting Saipan and its tourism sector,” ceased operations on June 30, 2024, with 38 years left in the lease contract.
MB International General Manager Gloria Cavanagh said Hood had been negotiating with Saipan Portopia for the lease assignment.
“David was negotiating with them a couple of months ago and we were just working with the Department of Public Lands to get the assignment approved. Based on the lease agreement, it has to be approved by DPL for it to happen … and so that happened actually [at] 8:54 p.m. on Aug. 31st,” she said.
Cyclical tourism market
Asked about the local tourism industry, Hood said, “No doubt in my mind that the market will improve eventually — it’s cyclical.”
“I’m a value investor,” he added. “I’ve been investing for 35 years in developing projects, building projects. We don’t look for projects when the market is high and everything is booming. We look at undervalued properties that might be struggling and we try to figure out what we can do different,” he said.
“We will persist. We will not just give up. We’re going to be aggressive. We will not just rely on a brand name. We will be thinking outside the box, we will be doing a lot of different things. We’ll make some mistakes, but we will keep adjusting to make sure we are successful here,” Hood said.
As for Hyatt’s 40-year lease agreement with DPL, Cavanagh said: “It’s public information, there’s 38 years left. MB Capital negotiated with Saipan Portopia to pay a certain amount for the assignment.”
“They cannot make any substantial changes to the existing lease,” she added. “The lease says we must invest a certain amount, then that’s the amount of investment we must make. The lease says there’s a portion for public benefits then that’s what we must do.”
According to DPL Secretary Teresita Santos, Hood and MB Capital LLC have business experience in the U.S. mainland and Saipan, including 35 years in residential and commercial development projects.
Santos said Hood estimates that his largest company, Coldwell Solar, is valued at over $200 million, and he intends to invest $30 million in the renovation of the hotel.
Upgrades
Hood told Variety that the Hyatt “is one of the few hotels on Saipan that don’t need many changes — it’s beautiful the way it is.”
“We’re going to upgrade the rooms,” he added, “but as far as the façade, the garden, I could not possibly grow that garden in 10 years. We’re probably not going to make a lot of changes there. Maybe the hotel’s color scheme — the hotel’s interior will be upgraded. The facility is really in good shape.”
“We will work on the renovations on the main building — we will do it in phases. We don’t feel that we have to get full occupancy right away, that’s the plan,” Hood said.
By the end of the year
Cavanagh said they will be reopening the regency side first.
“Because it’s ready for occupancy. It’s dated but clean and ready to go, then the southern side, which is the newest side, and that is ready, too. We’re hoping that we will be able to open by the end of the year,” she added.
“We will be reopening Miyako Restaurant as well, as soon as possible. We are excited because some of the vendors that were here before wanted to get back — we’re really working hard to get back everybody,” Hood said.
“Miyako will be reopening, and we hope to get everything done at the end of September,” added Cavanagh.
“The Hyatt property means a lot to a lot of people, and you know that they can trust that we have the same feeling towards this property, and that’s the one thing that is not going to change,” she said.
“Honestly, I have the same memories and feelings that most people that I’ve talked to about the Hyatt property,” Hood said. “I have those same feelings. I feel strongly about this hotel, enough to make this investment, but the hotel to me was just too important to let it just go to ruin and I really felt strongly about that and so I worked on this every day for the last four months to make it happen.”
Another group of investors is still hoping to acquire the property, but Gov. Arnold I. Palacios said the CNMI government is “restricted within the confines of the lease agreement, the regulations and the law.”
“It’s already finalized,” he said, referring to the assignment of the lease to MB Capital LLC.
He said the lease agreement states that any investor interested in the Hyatt property should acquire it from Saipan Portopia, which was still in possession of the leasehold.
