La Posada sale finalized, with new owner identity unveiled

The La Posada de Santa Fe hotel is officially off the market, with a familiar New Mexico name now at the helm. 

The historic hospitality property, located at 330 Palace, sold in a transaction that closed last week, according to listing agent Kami Burnett, who works for brokerage firm Hunter Hotel Advisors. 

On Tuesday, cousins Trey Yates and Ryan Price confirmed that their family business — Abo Empire — is the hotel’s new owner.  

“We’ve been familiar with the property over the years and we fell in love with it,” Yates said.

Price concurred, adding he met his wife in the La Posada lobby.

“Trey and I are from the Roswell and Artesia area, and we’ve been coming up to Santa Fe all of life,” Price said. “La Posada has always been one of my favorite places to stay. … It holds a strong place in our hearts.”

The sale comes months after the property was listed in November and just a few weeks after former owner Ashford Hospitality Trust announced in February that it had entered into an agreement to sell the property for nearly $58 million amid company efforts to reduce debt and improve cash flow. Burnett said the final sale price landed “plus or minus” the price announced by Ashford. 

Crescent Hotels & Resorts, a Virginia-based hotel and resort operator, will manage the hotel in partnership with William Cole Companies, a Texas-based, privately owned real estate development and investment firm which owns properties in Texas and Santa Fe, including a housing development dubbed Valverde at Las Campanas in Santa Fe.

In light of recent reports that indicated otherwise, Yates and Price clarified that these companies are just managing the hotel, while Abo Empire is the sole owner. 

The two families — who have a long history as oil and gas magnates in New Mexico — formed Abo Empire in 2016. The families sold off many of their oil and gas companies and properties that year and used the exit as an opportunity to diversify their ventures.

“We still have a number of oil and gas assets and are still active in the industry,” Yates said, “but we formed Abo Empire to help us figure out how to extend ourselves outside of oil and gas, and hopefully do it in a way that allows us to reinvest it into New Mexico and bring new industry to our state.”

La Posada joins an Abo Empire portfolio that includes investments in Eden Radioisotopes, a radioisotope production company in southeastern New Mexico, and being a founding partner of the New Mexico Vintage Fund, which invests in local entrepreneurs and early-stage and high-growth companies. 

Yates and Price, co-vice presidents of Abo Empire, said they plan to invest in major, across-the-board renovations on La Posada over the next couple of years. 

“We think that the property has been under-invested in,” Price said. “So we’re absolutely going to be focused on driving some more (capital expenditures) into the property to really polish what we think is a diamond in the Santa Fe market.”

The 157-room hotel — which features a southwestern style with a full-service spa, meeting space, seasonal pool, four restaurants and bars, and proximity to local shops and galleries — has a lengthy history in downtown Santa Fe and has become a well-recognized landmark in the City Different.

Burnett said the historic property received a significant level of interest during its time on the market.

“Santa Fe is a sought-after market that's very hard to develop in, and La Posada is an asset that has a long legacy within the market, and so that made it a very attractive target for folks,” Burnett said. 

In a March 18 news release, Crescent Hotels said its approach to managing the property will balance “respect for its history and a forward-looking operational strategy.”

Price expressed a similar approach to the renovations, adding the owners aim to upgrade what needs upgrading while preserving the character of the historic hotel.

The family plans to tackle renovations across the 6-acre property one section at a time in order to keep the doors open. Yates also said that Abo Empire is inheriting all of the hotel’s staff and is “eager to see that staff continue into the future.” 

“We just hope to bring it back to its previous glory,” Yates said.

Kylie Garcia covers retail and real estate for the Journal. You can reach her at kgarcia@abqjournal.com.