Old Course Hotel owner eyes up Hamilton Hall

The American magnate owner of the luxury Old Course Hotel is said to be in the market to buy Hamilton Hall for an estimated £14-£15m.

Herb Kohler, who made his fortune in bathroom fittings and owns the £40m luxury Old Course Hotel, which sits at the other end of the famous 18th hole from Hamilton Hall, is understood to be close to tying up a deal, according to The Times.

The 114-year-old listed building, which in its heyday as the Grand Hotel catered to the likes of Edward VIII, George VI and Rudyard Kipling, has been empty since it was sold by the University of St Andrews four years ago to Wasserman Real Estate Capital for about £20m.

Although Wasserman secured planning consent to convert the listed building into 23 luxury timeshare apartments and declared that it had secured project finance from Bank of Scotland totalling £84.3m, the scheme collapsed.

Wasserman’s plan was to sell 115 exclusive “resident memberships” for between £750,000 and £1.9m, plus an annual fee. But construction work was put on hold when the property market crashed and the building was put up for sale again in June after Bank of Scotland repossessed it from Wasserman.

Debbie Taylor, managing director of the Old Course Hotel, declined to comment on Kohler Co’s plans for Hamilton Hall should it succeed in buying it, but confirmed: “We are an interested party and are still waiting to hear whether our bid has been successful.”

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By Gemma Sharkey

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