21c combines a multi-venue contemporary art museum, boutique hotels and chef-driven restaurants. It has 11 properties currently open and under development across the United States.
The purchase price for the 85% stake is US$51 million, including a potential earn out payment. No real estate is included in this acquisition. The transaction should be completed during the third quarter of 2018.
21c Museum Hotels was founded in 2006 in Louisville by philanthropists and contemporary art collectors Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson.
Inspired by the idea that art can ignite urban revitalisation and drive civic connection, Brown and Wilson rehabilitated a series of 19th century warehouses in Louisville's downtown arts and theatre district to open the first 21c Museum Hotel.
The success of the Louisville flagship created opportunities for expansion; today the company operates eight 21c hotels across the US with with three more in development.
21c Museum is one of the largest contemporary art museums in the United States, and North America’s only collecting museum dedicated solely to art of the 21st century.
Open and accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 21c’s exhibitions and programmes are free to the public.
21c Museum Hotels will join AccorHotels’ MGallery collection of boutique hotels, marking the introduction of the MGallery brand into the North American market
Co-founders Brown and Wilson will retain a 15% stake in the company, and will remain closely involved in the 21c experience.
21c Museum Hotels announced plans Tuesday to sell 85 percent of its brand and hotel management — worth $51 million — in a move that could eventually expand the Louisville-based hotel and contemporary art concept abroad.
Under the new agreement, the chain will join AccorHotels, which offers travel experiences in 4,500 hotels, resorts and residences across 100 different countries.
The eight 21c hotels and three others in development will be part of AccorHotels' MGallery collection, but the properties won't undergo a name change.
21c founders Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson will retain 15 percent of the brand along with the hotel real estate and their art in this deal.
The husband-and-wife team will remain closely involved in curating the art, design and hospitality aspects of their hotels.
It’s going to give us the efficiency of their size and their expertise, Wilson said. It’s just going to be a completely different world for us.
21c Museum Hotels will continue to be led by President and CEO Craig Greenberg and the boutique chain's corporate headquarters will remain in Louisville.
It’s been great to be able to use art as a catalyst for commerce and revitalization of downtown, Wilson said.
We’re just Kentucky people that love, love Kentucky and Louisville has been famous for a mecca of entrepreneurial spirit, and we want to stay at home.
Brown and Wilson have been welcoming Louisville residents and visitors to their flagship museum and hotel mashup on West Main Street for more than a decade.
It was a risky idea, Wilson said, but it caught on and grew to eight hotels in 11 years. He was a farmer before he and his wife founded the boutique hotel chain. He often jokes it's easy to break rules and beat the odds when you don't know what they are, he said.
Now he's 70 years old, and he's well aware of both his age and the chain's potential.
Teaming up with AccorHotels was a solid fit and an opportunity to keep growing.
It's hard to know how quickly that growth might happen, Wilson said, but with the chain's resources and presence overseas, it'll happen much quicker than it would have alone.
I think the American spirit is very much a part of who we are, and I’m excited about the idea of bringing this concept to other countries, Wilson said.
AccorHotels' MGallery brand currently has locations in Amsterdam, Bangkok, Paris and Sydney, but the 21c properties will be its first step into the North American market.
We are delighted to welcome 21c Museum Hotels as part of the AccorHotels family of brands, hence strengthening the group’s footprint in North America in a very unique and promising niche, Kevin Frid, chief operating officer of AccorHotels in North and Central America, said in a statement.
Beyond the 21c chain, Brown and Wilson have also has spent substantial time and resources transforming the historic Hermitage Farm in Oldham County into a tourist destination with a restaurant, visitors center and art walk.
They purchased the farm in 2010 and announced in 2016 that they planned to turn the property into a tourist destination.
The goal of the $15 million project, Wilson said, is to put visitors back in touch with the land, teaching them where food comes from, how grains are used to make bourbon and how horses are bred to create the beasts they see pounding the dirt at Churchill Downs.
Tourism Observer
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