NEWS
Open Road Resorts Announces the Acquisition of Santa Fe, NM KOA Journey
September 11, 2024, 09:00 ET
HEATH, TX, Sept. 11, 2024 -- Open Road Resorts (ORR), a leading outdoor hospitality company focused on owning and operating RV parks and campgrounds across the United States, announced today that it has acquired the Santa Fe KOA Journey in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The Santa Fe KOA Journey is the sixth park in the Open Road Resorts portfolio and first in New Mexico. ORR’s five other parks are located across Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, and Texas. The ORR team seeks to provide superior hospitality experiences by acquiring exceptional parks and investing in key enhancements (e.g., key amenities, infrastructure) to drive consumer satisfaction.
Chase Becker, Co-Founder of Open Road Resorts stated, “We are delighted to enter the Santa Fe market with one of the premier RV parks in the Southwestern United States. Gerry and Carlissa Hodges have done a wonderful job elevating this park into one of the highest rated campgrounds in New Mexico and we look forward to building upon their legacy in the coming years.”
Jim Omstrom, Open Road Resorts Co-Founder commented, "the Santa Fe KOA Journey fits squarely within Open Road Resorts goal of building a collection of parks that offer our guests a consistent, high-quality, memorable experience at desirable destinations across the U.S. We see a considerable opportunity to expand the footprint of the park in the coming years."
Prior owners, Gerry and Carlissa Hodges said, “Jim and Chase were fantastic to work with during the entire process of the purchase of our park. They work with high integrity, great communication, and were always available to answer questions and talk through our concerns. They were professional yet personable. The perfect combination. We highly recommend working with Open Road Resorts.”
About Santa Fe KOA Journey
The Santa Fe KOA Journey offers the beauty of the surrounding Sangre de Cristo mountains with the convenience of being less than 15 minutes from the heart of Santa Fe. The park is a clean, safe, highly amenitized, family-friendly RV park and campground that is the perfect spot to slow down, read a book, sit by the campfire, toast a marshmallow (or two) and just relax. It is also the perfect base for adventure and exploration that Santa Fe and the surrounding areas offer -- the Santa Fe Plaza, San Miguel Mission, Palace of the Governors and Loretto Chapel, weekend festivals, Canyon Road’s many shops, galleries and restaurants (with local spicy and flavorful cuisine), the Rio Grande Gorge, and Museum Hill.
About Open Road Resorts
Open Road Resorts (ORR) is a leading outdoor hospitality company focused on owning and operating RV parks and campgrounds across the United States. ORR was founded in 2019 by close friends Chase Becker and Jim Omstrom, with the vision of providing a best-in-class experience for RVers by building a portfolio of clean, safe, highly amenitized, family-friendly parks throughout the U.S. ORR currently has six RV Parks across Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Texas, along with several more in the pipeline and a new greenfield development in the Dallas, TX market. For more information, please go to visitopenroadresorts.com.
Contact:
Elisabeth Day
SOURCE: Open Road Resorts
Open Road Resorts Establishes Leading Platform Outdoor Hospitality Company in Partnership with L Catterton, THOR Industries, Long Light Capital, and Chesapeake Partners
Open Road Resorts Establishes Leading Platform Outdoor Hospitality Company Focusing on RV Parks and Campgrounds in Partnership with L Catterton, THOR Industries, Long Light Capital, and Chesapeake Partners
Open Road Resorts Establishes Leading Platform Outdoor Hospitality Company Focusing on RV Parks and Campgrounds in Partnership with L Catterton, THOR Industries, Long Light Capital, and Chesapeake Partners
GREENWICH, Conn., Sept. 3, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- L Catterton, a leading global consumer-focused investment firm, today announced that it has made a strategic investment in Open Road Resorts ("ORR"), an operating platform managing a portfolio of RV parks across the U.S. ORR has established a collection of clean, safe, highly amenitized, family-friendly RV and camping destinations nationwide for campers who are seeking exceptional outdoor experiences. L Catterton is joined by THOR Industries, Long Light Capital, and Chesapeake Partners, establishing a strategic investment consortium with deep experience in the outdoor, hospitality, and adventure categories.
Founded by Chase Becker and Jim Omstrom in 2019, Open Road Resorts was established with the vision of providing a best-in-class experience for RVers by building a portfolio of parks at in-demand locations across the U.S. and maintaining rigorous standards to ensure consumer expectations are consistently exceeded. U.S. household participation in camping remains robust and continues to grow meaningfully, with the number of active camping households growing annually since 2015 and now sitting at over 60 million. Open Road Resorts seeks to capitalize on this strong, consistent demand while ensuring RVers and outdoor enthusiasts are provided memorable experiences.
Currently, Open Road Resorts operates five parks across Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, and Texas. The ORR team seeks to provide superior hospitality experiences by acquiring exceptional parks and investing in key enhancements to drive consumer satisfaction. The investment will support ORR's acquisition of additional parks, allow for investment in key amenities and infrastructure across new and existing parks, and enable further investments in marketing and brand-building nationwide.
"We are incredibly excited to work with a group of partners with deep experience in the outdoor category. With partners such as L Catterton and THOR, we believe we will be able to meaningfully scale our operations and geographic presence," said Chase Becker, Co-Founder of Open Road Resorts.
Jim Omstrom, fellow ORR Co-Founder, added: "We established Open Road Resorts with the goal of building a collection of parks that offer our guests a consistent, high-quality, memorable experience at desirable destinations across the U.S. We believe this investment will help us achieve that goal."
"We partnered with the Open Road Resorts team because we believe they are building a uniquely compelling offering for campers that will be highly desirable to our current and future customers. We always seek to provide our consumers with a superior experience, and partnering with ORR allows us to accomplish this goal by ensuring their access to the next great brand in outdoor hospitality," said Todd Woelfer, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of THOR.
"We are thrilled to partner with Jim, Chase, and the fantastic investor base of Open Roads Resorts to scale the ORR platform and help grow the next great outdoor hospitality company," said Matt Nugent, a Partner in L Catterton's Growth Fund. "We are huge believers in the long-term growth of the RV market and in outdoor participation more generally, and we believe ORR is optimally positioned to provide a compelling experience to a broad set of outdoor enthusiasts across the country."
About Open Road Resorts
Open Road Resorts (ORR) is a leading outdoor hospitality company focused on owning and operating RV parks and campgrounds across the United States. ORR was founded in 2019 by close friends Chase Becker and Jim Omstrom, with the vision of providing a best-in-class experience for RVers by building a portfolio of clean, safe, highly amenitized, family-friendly parks throughout the U.S. ORR currently has five RV Parks across Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, and Texas, along with several more in the pipeline and a new greenfield development in the Dallas, TX market. For more information, please go to visitopenroadresorts.com.
About THOR Industries
THOR is the sole owner of operating companies which, combined, represent the world's largest manufacturer of recreational vehicles. For more information on the Company and its products, please go to www.thorindustries.com.
About L Catterton
L Catterton is a market-leading consumer-focused investment firm, managing approximately $35 billion of equity capital across three multi-product platforms: private equity, credit, and real estate. The firm's funds have the ability to invest between $5 million and $5 billion, across the capital structure, in well-positioned consumer businesses. Leveraging deep category insight, operational excellence, and a broad network of strategic relationships, L Catterton's team of more than 200 investment and operating professionals across 17 offices partners with management teams to drive differentiated value creation across its portfolio. Founded in 1989, the firm has made over 275 investments in some of the world's most iconic consumer brands. For more information about L Catterton, please visit lcatterton.com.
About Long Light Capital
Long Light Capital, LLC is a single-family investment firm based in Miami Beach, FL. Founded in 1990, Long Light Capital invests in both public and private markets across a multitude of industries and geographies. The firm allocates capital to companies with best-in-class business models, experienced management teams, and in industries with secular tailwinds. Long Light Capital utilizes its permanent and patient capital base to create enduring partnerships and maximize long-term value.
Contact:
Julie Hamilton
media@lcatterton.com
+1 203 742 5185
SOURCE L Catterton
Open Road Resorts Continues Investments in Parks
Open Road Resorts LLC is a four-year-old, Heath, Texas-based company that owns and operates an attractive portfolio of four campgrounds in some of the most sought-after locations in the country.
Open Road Resorts LLC is a four-year-old, Heath, Texas-based company that owns and operates an attractive portfolio of four campgrounds in some of the most sought-after locations in the country.
One of its parks, Red Rock RV Park in Island Park, Idaho, is in a scenic location 30 minutes from West Yellowstone, Mont., and the northwest entrance to Yellowstone National Park. Two others, Polson Motorcoach Resort and the Polson/Flathead Lake Kampgrounds of America Inc. (KOA) Holiday are about 90 minutes south of Glacier National Park in Montana’s beautiful Flathead Lake area.
Its other park, Dallas Northeast Campground is about 40 minutes from the center of Dallas.
Open Roads co-founders Chase Becker and James Omstrom told WOODALLSCM.com (WCM) they have every intention of expanding their company with more acquisitions, primarily parks in sought-after destinations that could use an infusion of capital to provide a better camping experience that meets or exceeds the expectations of today’s camping consumer.
While both Becker and Omstrom are camping enthusiasts, they say they have learned a great deal about the strengths as well as the weaknesses of the RV and campground businesses in recent years, and they know where to target their investments.Open Road Resorts Logo
Before they co-founded Open Road Resorts in 2019, Becker and Omstrom spent many years working as investment analysts for some of the best-known companies on Wall Street, including Bear Stearns and JP Morgan Chase.
They eventually landed jobs at a hedge fund called Citadel LLC, where they became familiar with a variety of consumer leisure products.