From left, House Speaker Edmund Villagomez, Senate President Edith Deleon Guerrero, MB Capital LLC President David Hood, Gov. Arnold I. Palacios and Lt. Gov. David M. Apatang unveil the Sheraton brand name in the lobby of the former Hyatt Regency Saipan on Tuesday.
THE former Hyatt Regency Saipan will reopen as a Sheraton hotel based on a memorandum of agreement signed by MB Capital LLC and Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels & Resorts, an affiliate of Marriot International Inc.
“We signed the MOU on Monday, and we are executing it today with an unveiling,” MB Capital LLC President David Hood said in a media conference Tuesday.
“It was a tough decision,” he added. “We could have made the decision a month ago, but we just kept looking at all the specifics. I just think the Sheraton is a better fit for the CNMI. Sheraton was super excited about the property. Their enthusiasm was just off the charts and that made a big difference for me,” Hood said.
He earlier said that their options were Sheraton, Westin or Hilton.
He said they will try to open by Thanksgiving next month.
“We will open the former Regency Club, but we will not call it that anymore — maybe the Royalty Club or something like that. The planned renovation won’t start until the end of next year, 2025 or 2026. We still have to go through some revisions for the renovations, but we will still be open,” he said.
As for Miyako Restaurant, “It has been open for four days now — it has been full, and people have been excited about that. We brought fresh salmon from Norway. We look forward to seeing everybody here,” Hood added.
He said MB Capital and Marriot will now attempt to reach an agreement on the “definitive contracts” for the hotel.
MB Capital must satisfy the conditions for re-branding.
Elated
Joining Hood and MB Capital General Manager Gloria Cavanagh at the unveiling of the Sheraton brand name were Gov. Arnold I. Palacios, Lt. Gov. David M. Apatang, House Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez, Senate President Edith Deleon Guerrero, and other officials.
Palacios said, “We are elated, and I think everyone is elated that we are going to get a brand. Everyone was a little depressed when Hyatt walked out, but I think this is a new day … and we have a new group of people that we have confidence in making this thing work for this community.”
He added, “MB Capital has a good team that [is] committed to the CNMI — these folks are from the Commonwealth. We believe that whatever it’s going to take, they will give it their best, and the government will be with them throughout whether it’s helping with marketing or … with incentives. We will really try to make this work.”
Palacios noted that the Hyatt Regency Saipan was the island’s iconic hotel.
“When Hyatt left, it was like a punch in the gut for everybody, including myself. I lost a lot of sleep thinking about it and what’s going to come next. We were patient … and I had confidence that we would get something done. I’m glad we got it done sooner than later…. Dave [Hood] and his team are on top of it. In fact, to their credit, they retained the critical workforce in this hotel, and that’s engineering. They kept going the air conditioning, the power system, and the reverse osmosis system,” Palacios said.
Background
In October 2021, Saipan Portopia Corporation, which was doing business as Hyatt Regency Saipan, 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.
In September 2024, the governor announced that Saipan Portopia’s assignment of its Hyatt land lease contract to MB Capital LLC had been finalized.
The Department of Public Lands, for its part, noted that Hood and MB Capital LLC have business experience in the U.S. mainland and Saipan, including 35 years in residential and commercial development projects.
DPL said Hood estimates that his largest company, Coldwell Solar, is valued at over $200 million. He intends to invest $30 million in the renovation of the former Hyatt, DPL added.
Asked about the slow recovery of the local tourism industry, Hood told Variety, “No doubt in my mind that the market will improve eventually — it’s cyclical.”
