Ramsfield purchased this budget Waikiki hotel, in February of 2008. Because the Hotel was encumbered by a complicated ground lease and seven long term residential leases that expired in 2010, Ramsfield saw an opportunity to purchase the leasehold interest significantly below its market value from an absentee Japan-based owner and renovate it to a three star level.

Ramsfield brought the 125-room hotel through an extensive $4.7 million renovation that completely upgraded the hotel’s guest rooms, exterior, and public spaces. The hotel has been re-branded and is currently part of Aqua’s Boutique Collection.

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Ramsfield acquired the 30 room Lake Placid Lodge, luxury resort which is consistently ranked in the Top 10 Hotels in America, in the spring of 2010.

Ramsfield originated a construction loan on the property that was used to rebuild the historic hotel after a fire destroyed the main lodge building in 2005. The reconstruction went over schedule and budget and the Borrower defaulted in the fall of 2009. Over the following six months, the Ramsfield team completely restructured the defaulted, non-performing loan, negotiated a new senior mortgage with the lender and a successful deed-in-lieu transfer from the old borrower. Additionally, Ramsfield created a new management company specializing in operating luxury boutique resort properties.

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Prior to the founding of Ramsfield, Richard was Director and Founder of Kennedy-Wilson Japan. From 1995 to 2002 Kennedy-Wilson Japan grew from a start-up to a full service real estate investor and advisory firm. The company entered the public markets in Japan with a successful IPO in 2002 and now has a market cap of close to $2 billion.

From 1993 through 2002, Mr. Mandel held various senior positions at Kennedy-Wilson USA. His most recent post was President of the Commercial Investment Sales Group. Under his leadership, Kennedy-Wilson completed eleven hotel transactions totaling approximately $300 million. In addition to running the Investment Sales Group, Mr. Mandel originated and oversaw over $500 million of principal investments for Kennedy-Wilson.

Mr. Mandel was previously a Director at Jones Lang Wootton USA and was involved with all aspects of real estate investment banking from disposition, analysis, marketing, negotiations and closing. While at JLW, Mr. Mandel was a “link partner” to JLW Asia where he was responsible for all cross border U.S./Asian investment.

Mr. Mandel received his Masters degree from the J.L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a BA degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

Ramsfield was hired in November 2008 by an institutional hotel owner to oversee a 300-room, full service hotel in Hilo, Hawaii that was coming off a record year of performance, however, entering into an economically challenging environment. Our client requested that we attempt to maintain the bottom-line performance of the hotel even though an economic tsunami was on the horizon. After careful underwriting, Ramsfield accepted the challenge and was able to increase the monthly NOI margin by 15% even though monthly revenues had decreased by 17.5%.

Ramsfield saw many opportunities to operate the property more efficiently and by working hand-in-hand with the operator as well as by purchasing property management technologies and renovating key areas of the hotel, we were able to achieve such goals as reducing staffing by 20%, increasing staffing efficiency by 30%, lowering utilities costs by 17%. In addition, we implemented other cost saving and revenue producing programs which to date, have not only made the hotel more profitable, but increased customer satisfaction.

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Ramsfield was hired in January 2011 to act as the exclusive representative of the owner on this recently opened, luxury resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Capella Pedregal, the premier spa resort in Cabo San Lucas, sits on the southernmost tip of Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula. The resort is accessed through a mountain tunnel and encompasses 24 oceanfront acres at the very point where the Pacific Ocean meets the Sea of Cortez, near the legendary rock formations known as Land’s End. Ramsfield is working closely with the property’s manager, the West Paces Hotel Group, to maximize the performance of the property.

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She joined Ramsfield after working with Ernst & Young’s Transaction Real Estate Group, where she did hotel underwriting, operational enhancement, portfolio due diligence, tourism strategy, and valuation for a wide variety of real estate asset types. Her work included a prevalence of projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. Prior to her time at Ernst & Young Ms. Wickstrom held various management positions with Fairmont Hotels and Resorts.

Ms. Wickstrom holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Hotel Administration and a Master’s of Business Administration from Cornell University.

Ramsfield originated a Senior Mortgage for the acquisition of the Radisson Denver Southeast by Malaga LLC. The loan exceeded the hotel’s purchase price and represented approximately 87% of the borrower’s total investment basis. Because of Ramsfield’s quick turnaround time in underwriting the deal, in addition to the loan’s high LTC percentage, a profit participation in the property’s eventual net sales proceeds was included with the loan.

Because of the loan’s structure, the borrower was able to purchase this property out of bankruptcy, perform a strategic renovation, and more efficiently operate the asset over their holding period. The hotel was sold during the first quarter of 2008 at an amount substantially above the Borrower’s initial purchase price. Ramsfield’s ability to quickly underwrite this high loan-to-cost loan led to investment that substantially benefited both the borrower and lender.

After Ramsfield’s loan was paid back in 2008, the hotel was converted to a Red Lion.

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Prior to joining Ramsfield, Mr. Zhang worked in Ernst & Young’s Transaction Real Estate Group where he assisted in underwriting and performing due diligence for over $1.5 billion of hotel debt and equity investments.

Mr. Zhang earned a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration with a minor in real estate and a concentration in corporate finance.

Ramsfield originated a $24.8 million first mortgage loan for the purchase of the 160 room SeaCrest Oceanfront Hotel in Pismo Beach, CA. Despite the low in-place cash flows, Ramsfield saw the inherent value in the seven-plus acre ocean front property, one of the only properties in Pismo with direct access to the beach.

The loan proceeds allowed the purchaser to acquire and completely rehabilitate the family owned beach front property from a two star to a three star resort. Renovations on the property began immediately after closing and were separated into two phases to minimize disruption to guests during the hotel’s busy summer season. The first phase entailed a complete room re-design and FF&E upgrade and the second phase focused on upgrading the grounds and exterior of the resort.

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Prior to joining CarVal Investors, Mr. Mullaney was an investment manager for three years in Cargill’s Structured Finance Group. Before joining Cargill in 1987, Mr. Mullaney was a senior auditor for Coopers & Lybrand in Minneapolis running audits on pension plans, real estate and insurance companies.

Mr. Mullaney received his MBA with a concentration in Finance from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. He has a BA in Accounting from the same university. Mr. Mullaney is a CFA charterholder.