HOTEL mogul Kevin Hendrickson has won the bid to purchase the former Wyndham Kingston Hotel.

Hendrickson’s bid of US$17.6 million was accepted at yesterday’s auction of the 303-room property that sits in the heart of New Kingston, next door to his Courtleigh Hotel and Suites and the Jamaica Pegasus in which he acquired controlling interest in September 2010.

Yesterday, when the Jamaica Observer contacted Hendrickson for a comment he said the purchase will “represent a strategic opportunity to transform the city landscape and present products and services through a full and comprehensive development strategy”.

A source close to the development pointed out that although Hendrickson has won the bid, full acquisition will not be realised until after a process of transactions.

In August 2011, the hotel, which was owned by Ocean Chimo Limited, was placed in receivership by RBC Royal Bank Jamaica and RBC Royal Bank Trinidad and Tobago for unpaid debts estimated at more than US$30 million ($3.3 billion). In 2012, it was placed on the market after Ocean Chimo, which was formed by Jamaican investor Delroy Howell to operate the hotel, failed to get an injunction in the Supreme Court to prevent the appointment of a receiver and the sale of the property by RBC to recover the debt owed to the bank.

An auction planned in April last year was postponed after fire damaged sections of the hotel. Last July, the Wyndham Hotel Group, which managed the property, pulled its name from the property.

In addition to The Courtleigh and Jamaica Pegasus, Hendrickson owns and operates the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston and the Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort in Montego Bay.

His other interests include the Courtleigh Corporate Centre, Yummy and Holsum bakeries.