Kenwood Inn sold to investment group for nearly $20 million

Kenwood Inn Holdings LLC has purchased the Kenwood Inn and Spa from Terry and Roseann Grimm for a reported $19.8 million. The Mediterranean-style resort has 30 rooms, three courtyards, a pool, a spa, a cafe, a wine bar and other amenities on 2.5 acres across Highway 12 from Kunde Estate Vineyards and Winery on the east side of Kenwood.
Aside from its luxurious villa accommodations (which go for $350 to $600 a night), the property is best known for its spa. One of only three Caudalie spas in the world, it offers a full menu of exclusive treatments and vinotherapy products, which feature organic grapevine extracts. The Kenwood Inn and Spa has been named “Best Wine Country Retreat in all of California…10 best of the World” by Food and Wine Magazine and “sixth out of 50 top spas in the world” last year by Luxury Spa Finder.
The new owners are Vero Wine Group LLC and Westside Grapes LLC, which acquired Kenwood Inn under the name of Bellevue, Wash.-based Kenwood Inn Holdings LLC. According to details revealed by a public relations spokeswoman, they plan to maintain the inn’s high-end status. They will probably add six already-approved luxury guest suites. They definitely plan to enhance the currently modest food and beverage program by bringing in chef Renzo Veronese’s “la vera cucina” (the real kitchen), featuring authentic Italian/continental cuisine based on seasonal and farm-fresh ingredients, paired with the finest Sonoma County wines. (Veronese is currently the chef at Healdsburg’s historic Hop Kiln Winery, which was purchased two years ago by Kenwood Inn Holdings LLC.)
“I was delighted to hear that one of our finest inn and spas will continue to take it to the next level,” said Wendy Peterson, executive director of the Sonoma Valley Visitors Bureau. “The previous owners did a fine job in terms of establishing such a level of services to provide to guests. I understand the new owners plan to continue that level of excellence and maybe add some new things. It’s wonderful that Sonoma Valley will continue to have (this place) for people who would like to have that exquisite experience.”
Beginning last month, management operations of the inn were taken over by Columbia Hospitality, Inc., a Seattle-based hospitality management and consulting firm with expertise in luxury hotel and resort management. Columbia was recently named Puget Sound Business Journal’s “Fastest Growing Private Company in the Pacific Northwest” for the fourth time.
Beginning in the 1989, Terry and Roseann Grimm developed the Kenwood Inn after they bought a one-time antique shop and transformed it into a four-bedroom bed and breakfast. Two major expansions – one in 1995 to add a spa and eight rooms and one in 2002 to install two more courtyards and twenty-four additional accommodations – created a highly sought-after destination that attracted clients from all over the U.S. and abroad, including celebrities such as Paloma Picasso.