REHOBOTH BEACH – The highly rated Bellmoor Inn and Spa has been sold to a New York-based real estate investment firm for $17.3 million, according to county records.
EOS Investors LLC, a private 3-year-old firm founded by Jonathan Wang, secured its first Delaware property in the Feb. 26 deal as it looks to acquire properties nationwide.
The Bellmoor is a 78-room hotel off Christian Street in downtown Rehoboth Beach. It features a communal dining area, interior courtyard, exclusive library, two outdoor pools, and an on-site spa. The hotel is among the highest rated in Rehoboth from travel services and earned the 2019 Traveler’s Choice award from Trip Advisor.
In a Facebook post after the sale was first reported by the Cape Gazette, the Bellmoor’s owner, Beacon Hospitality operated by the Moore family, thanked its guests for their years of patronage.
“We are delighted to join the EOS Hospitality family,” the company wrote. “We can assure you that The Bellmoor Inn and Spa will remain the same hotel you know and love. We look forward to your next stay.”
The property dates back to 1937, when Ruth Emmert opened the Dinner Bell Inn that lasted for generations. Coastal Properties LLC, operated by hoteliers Bob and Dee Moore, and their sons Todd, Chad, and J.B., purchased the hotel in 1999 for $1.7 million, according to county deed records. They opened the Bellmoor in 2003.
The sale to EOS translates to a return of more than 900% on the Moore’s initial investment.
The hotel completed a full redesign in 2018, ushering in lighter touches of white, blue and green along with its familiar stately browns. Afterward, it was named the Best Designed Hotel in Delaware from House Beautiful magazine, a national publication.
The Bellmoor joins an EOS hospitality portfolio with properties in destinations like Key West, Fla.; Washington, D.C.; and Mrytle Beach, S.C.
EOS is ramping up growth in its asset portfolio, buying a nine-property group in Kennebunkport, Maine, for an undisclosed price just days before its acquisition of the Bellmoor.
Last summer it bought its 160-acre beachfront resort campus in Myrtle Beach for $156 million, and it announced last month that it was investing $50 million in a renovation there. In 2017, it bought the 318-room Hamilton Hotel in D.C. for $106.5 million.
Although EOS has not announced any new plans for the Bellmoor – it has also not yet responded to a Delaware Business Times email inquiry – it notably did obtain a Wells Fargo Bank mortgage for the property worth $21 million, or $3.7 million more than the sale value, according to county records.
After selling their interest in the Bellmoor, the Moore family still own and operate Rehoboth’s Oceanus Motel and The Admiral on Baltimore hotel. They also own the Microtel Inn & Suites in Georgetown and are preparing to build a second Microtel in Milford.
By Jacob Owens
jowens@delawarebusinesstimes.com
