RICHMOND — The company that operates the Ocean House has taken over management of North Kingstown developer Paul Mihailides’ 3,500-acre Preserve Sporting Club and Residences in Richmond off Route 138.
Daniel A. Hostettler, president and group managing director of Ocean House Management LLC, said the agreement will allow the award-winning hotel brand to “expand into the sporting club hospitality and management space.”
“We are excited to broaden our luxury, lifestyle footprint in Rhode Island,” Hostettler said. “It’s a natural fit.”
“It’s all sort of neat, actually,” Hostettler said Friday morning. “It seems to be exactly what people are looking for in these interesting times.”
As he has observed at two of the management company’s properties — the Ocean House and Weekapaug Inn — since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, Hostettler said guests are searching for safe places where they can be “outside, spread out” and properly socially distanced from other people and other groups of people.
“The Preserve is so vast,” he said, that it provides abundant opportunities for people to enjoy activities without ever coming in contact with others. “People have embraced the outside.”
Hostettler said the Preserve’s exclusive “Maker’s Mark Hobbit House” serving “flavorful grilled dishes and bourbon in a magical, storybook setting,” will be overseen by Ocean House Executive Chef Timothy Meyers, as will the signature restaurant Double Barrel Kitchen, which serves seasonal ingredients and daily game specials.
In the Hobbit House, families and friends in groups of up to eight can book an “immersive multi-course dinner” that begins outside with bourbon-infused cocktails by a fire, then continues inside where guests can feast on starters, including assorted wild game sausage with local cheeses, bourbon mustard and toasted baguette — all served at a custom-designed Maker’s Mark wood table repurposed from former whisky barrels.
“Now more than ever, travelers are seeking an escape from reality,” Hostettler said. “The Hobbit House is unlike anything else that exists. We are thrilled to partner with the world leader in premium spirits … to bring this innovative concept to life.”
“Although the Preserve has been there for a while,” Hostettler added, “we are helping to reposition it as a sporting club.”
Hostettler said the Preserve, with its rock-climbing areas, walking and bicycle trails, swimming pools, clay and grass tennis courts, fly fishing ponds, equestrian center with 100 miles of riding paths, 18-hole par-3 golf course, 1,765-foot zip line, sporting clay courses, skeet field, trap field and shooting range — the longest indoor, underground, automated range in the world (which includes 3-D archery) — has been called “the most amenity-rich sporting community in the country.”
Mihailides, the chairman of the Preserve Sporting Club and Residences, bought the vacant, wooded property in the mid-1980s with the intention of building houses on the land. He built 32 housing units in the early 1990s, and was planning to build 100 more when he was approached with the idea of building a golf course. When another piece of property with frontage on Route 138 became available, Mihailides bought it and began building the golf course and clubhouse, which opened in 1995 as the Preserve at Boulder Hills.
Then, in 2000, Mihailides was invited to partner with Foxwoods Resort Casino, which bought a 50 percent interest in the course.
“They were looking for golf in the area and they were trying to align themselves with strategic partners at the time that had good credibility in the marketplace,” Mihailides told The Sun in 2017.
Foxwoods sent its golfing guests to Boulder Hills until 2002, when it began developing the 36-hole Lake of Isles complex on tribal land close to the casino. Milhailides said Foxwoods bought him out. In 2006, after operating the course for four years while Lake of Isles was being built, Foxwoods closed Boulder Hills.
The property languished until 2013, when it was again put up for sale. Mihailides saw the listing, bought it back and transformed it into the private club it is today.
“We are very excited to partner with Mr. Daniel Hostettler and Ocean House Management,” Mihailides said Friday. “They are such a discerning operation with the highest standards. We want to emulate them with our rustic elegance. We want to bring the same quality touches to the Preserve, and bring the Preserve to another level of excellence … the excellence we are already known for.”
Mihailides pointed to Ocean House Management’s membership in Relais & Châteaux, a worldwide association featuring 585 notable properties and a commitment “to enrich the history of cuisine and hospitality.”
“This will take us to an even higher level of experience for our members and an entirely new audience of outdoor enthusiasts,” Mihailides added.
Hostettler added that Ocean House and Weekapaug Inn guests interested in golfing, playing tennis or zip lining, for instance, can now take advantage of such amenities at the Preserve.
“This also gives us the opportunity to expand our season,” he added.
Ocean House Management will also oversee the real estate program at the Preserve, he said.
“People can buy a property and then give it back [to us] as a rental unit,” he explained. “Just as we did for the Signature Suites at Ocean House. It’s a similar business model.”
The residential component of the property consists of luxury condominiums, “townhomes,” and single-family residences in a variety of sizes and formats, which will be included in a rental program with the Ocean House Collection. The Preserve also offers “hospitality experiences,” including cottages, safari tents, a treehouse and designer “Cozy Cabins.” The property also features scenic meeting and event spaces for groups of up to 350 indoor and 1,000 in outdoor tented areas, and a 25,000-square-foot clubhouse.
A four-bedroom, 4½-bath townhome was on the market earlier this summer for $1.35 million.
“We are exceeding expectations,” Mihailides said.
“We want to be the best of the best,” he added. “We want people to come here and breathe our COVID-free air.”
In addition to Ocean House and Weekapaug Inn, Ocean House Management Collection also manages the Watch Hill Inn and the Inn at Hastings Park in Lexington, Mass.
Sun staff writer Cynthia Drummond contributed to this story.
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