The Mansion: Dallas Icon Changes Hands, Back to Local Ownership

A Dallas landmark property, the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, changed ownership Thursday coming home to local and somewhat related hands.

The hotel is one of the most luxurious in Dallas, having 142 rooms in nine stories, a bar, the namesake restaurant where Dean Fearing created his famous Lobster Tacos, and meeting rooms. Until Thursday, it was owned by a Hong Kong-based hotel company that still owns the Rosewood brand, but is now in the hands of HN Capital Partners, a private real estate investment firm led by Vipin Nambiar. The firm was originally backed by Hunt Consolidated, where Mr. Nambiar worked for several years. Ray Hunt remains a minority partner. Other HN local holdings include the W Hotel in Victory Park and multiple properties in the Dallas Design District. HN was also involved in the planning and development of the Dallas Virgin Hotel in the Design District.

Caroline Rose Hunt’s Legacy

Local ownership has come back full circle, thanks to the woman who saved an historic mansion and oil company headquarters from demolition — the late Caroline Rose Hunt. Hunt died October 31, 2018.

Caroline Rose Hunt was the third daughter of oil tycoon H.L. Hunt (first family), a mother of five, and a Park Cities resident. Though well educated and traveled, she was not a developer. But she was a billionaire in her own right and a passionate preservationist. So when she heard that the old Sheppard King mansion on Turtle Creek Boulevard was going to be razed, Caroline sprang into action.

The Mansion became the flagship of a 15-property, $300 million global hospitality empire — Rosewood Hotels & Resorts — under Hunt’s chairmanship.

Dallas owes Caroline Rose Hunt a great deal, both as a developer and a preservationist. Preservation was paramount to her and she didn’t like the notion of demolishing a beautiful building — to her that was a waste, something she was not fond of. (Note: I had the pleasure of interviewing Caroline Rose Hunt in 2010 as I wrote about the Mansion’s sister hotel, Hotel Crescent Court. )

The History of The Mansion

In the 1920s, Sheppard King was a wealthy Dallas cotton baron who, with his wife and architect, scoured Europe seeking relics and art for the 10,000-square-foot Italian Renaissance-style home they built on Turtle Creek.

However, the Great Depression interfered, forcing them to sell their design nest. The buyer was an oilman, Freeman Burford. He and his wife lived in the huge home until selling to another oilman, Toddie Lee Wynne. Wynne converted the mansion into the offices of American Liberty Oil Company. In the ’70s, the estate passed to Republic Financial Services before it became earmarked for the wrecking ball.

Hunt was a preservationist, but she was also a sharp businesswoman: her oldest son told her buying the Mansion was a sound investment — other tycoons were successfully buying and running small, luxurious hotels in other cities with great success.

Stephen Sands, the son, planned to turn the existing King mansion into a bar and restaurant and build an adjacent luxury hotel in the same architectural mode behind, turning the entire block into the Mansion. He also wanted club panache: the restaurants would be run by 21 Management Co., of the famed 21 Club in New York City.

A Luxury Hotel For a Price

In 1979, Caroline Rose Hunt and her son established the hotel development and operating company Rosewood Hotels Inc. for the Caroline Rose Hunt Trust Estate. They bought the old King mansion for $1.6 million, sinking an additional $19.4 million toward renovation and building.

Word on the street is that HN Capital Partners paid less than $1 million a key, but the price was not disclosed.

The hotel opened in 1981 and was christened The Mansion on Turtle Creek. Pulling from her vast circle of friends locally and internationally, Caroline threw a two-day gala covered by the national press, attended by 270 couples who forked out $1,000 to attend. Immediately, Dallas embraced the new luxury and opulence: a 2-to-l ratio of staff to guest, the 32-foot-high marble rotunda, and attention to detail that would become synonymous with the Rosewood name, such as fine art, antiques, pampering, and replenishing flowers in the lobby with rare flora flown in fresh weekly from around the world.

(Reminds me of a Dallas party I went to last spring where a Hunt benefactor had donated all the table centerpieces — beautiful flowers flown to Dallas from Connecticut — via private jet.)

Even the New York Times took notice.

In 1989, After 42 years of ownership, Caroline Rose Hunt sold Rosewood Corporation. When her daughter, Laurie Sands Harrison, then executive director, asked her mom why she’d agreed to sell the family’s crown jewels, she received one of her mother’s well-honed pieces of business advice.

“‘Laurie, I told you, don’t get emotionally tied to any one line of business,’ ” Harrison recalled. “‘Business is cyclical. And now is the time to sell. We’ve got a Chinese [tycoon] getting ready to overpay. Besides that, you children can buy it back for 30 cents on the dollar in about 15 years.’ “

According to a statement from the new owners, the hotel will continue operating the Mansion on Turtle Creek with Rosewood Hotels & Resorts. Hotels, though owned by one entity, often contract with a brand for management.

“This magnificent estate offered HN Capital a unique opportunity to further invest in the Dallas community, and we’re excited to continue to forge even stronger bonds with local partners as we begin work on enhancing what this iconic hospitality destination has to offer,” Vipin Nambiar, founder of HN Capital Partners, said in a statement. “Our goal is to respect the hotel’s history and work closely with the Rosewood team to further expand the luxury offerings and imagine new services that ensure that the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek remains the most beloved hotel for the Dallas community and travelers alike.

“Our aspiration always remains the same: to use our training as architects, planners, finance and legal professionals with the guiding principle of leaving something better than we found it.”

According to the Dallas Morning News, HN Capital Partners plans significant upgrades.

“We think it’s a great canvas with which to do something special,” said Vipin Nambiar. “The rooms have been done well.

“You are going to see us work with Rosewood reimagining from the standpoint of the the food and beverage and the wellness amenities we can add.”

The new owners plan to preserve the Mansion’s history while growing its appeal and filling rooms.

“Making sure this asset is put forward for the next 20 years so it retains its status as one of the best places in Dallas is important to me,” said Vipin Nambiar. “We will ensure its transition as a luxury hotel for the next generation occurs.”

“Our singular focus is going to be sure we deeply preserve its narrative and get the Gen Z and millennial generations to better identify with it.”

via the Dallas Morning News