Maine’s Ocean Gate Resort acquired by The Wardman Group

The Wardman Group, a Washington, D.C. based real estate investment firm, acquired Ocean Gate Resort in Southport, Maine, and engaged Scout Hotel & Resort Management as its operator. Ocean Gate Resort is a 65-room waterfront resort two-and-a-half miles from the town of Boothbay Harbor, Maine. The resort opened in the mid-1950s and had been owned and operated by GEM Hospitality Group since 2006.

“Ocean Gate Resort has been a true labor of love for our family, and we couldn’t be more pleased with The Wardman Group’s interest in it,” Frank Gaynor, owner of GEM Hospitality Group, said in a statement. “We have complete confidence that Wardman and Scout are the right team to shepherd the resort into its next phase.”

“Ocean Gate Resort has many great qualities for families, couples and groups seeking a Maine getaway, and it perfectly balances a secluded setting with proximity to Boothbay Harbor," Thad Paul, founder and CEO of The Wardman Group. "We appreciate the Gaynor family’s excellent stewardship of the resort over the past 11 years, and look forward to bringing it to its full potential.”

The hotel includes guestroom options, including standard guestrooms, one- and two-bedroom suites and two stand-alone cottages, with almost all guestrooms featuring waterfront locations. In the off-season, Wardman plans to selectively upgrade the guestrooms; will modernize its dining room, including the creation of a separate private dining room that can serve small group meetings; and will also convert the under-utilized fitness center into a second meeting room. The 33-acre resort is open seasonally from May through October and offers guests a wide array of recreational facilities including a heated pool and hot tub, floating dock with kayaks and canoes, a nine-hole miniature golf course and a tennis and basketball court.

Ocean Gate Resort is located on Southport Island, which is accessible from Boothbay Harbor by a swing bridge, and is minutes from Southport’s Robinson’s Wharf and Oliver’s Restaurant, as well as Boothbay Harbor’s Botanical Gardens, restaurants, galleries and waterfront activities.