Kaiser rolls on
Successful Gulf Shores real estate executive
sells company on 'very favorable' terms
By Kathy Jumper
Mobile Bay Times
Leonard Kaiser was pumping gas at his own station in Gulf Shores when he switched careers to open Kaiser Realty 32 years ago in a 1,100-square-foot office he shared with a contractor.
Today, he owns that same site at 1557 Gulf Shores Parkway, along with the 27,000-square-foot, three-story state-of-the-art office building he developed a couple of years ago.
And he rang in 2013
Wyndham Vacation
Rentals, part of the
family of brands
(NYSE: WYN).
The purchase price
was not disclosed,
but Kaiser, 62, says
the cash transaction
“was very favorable
for me.’’
Kaiser has formed a new sales company, Kaiser Real Estate Sales, and will keep his office in the building he owns, and lease much of the three-story building to Wyndham.
The 80-plus employees at the vacation rentals and property management division kept their jobs and benefits, he said.
“I was adamant about taking care of the employees,’’ he said.
Some of the staff have been with Kaiser for almost 20 years while 34 employees have worked there for 10 years. Kaiser handled more than 450 condo and beach home rentals.
The 12 Realtors on the sales side will join Kaiser’s new company, which will be led by Kaiser, his wife, Belinda, and two of their three daughters, Erin Kaiser and Andrea Kaiser Shilston.
Kaiser also agreed to serve as community relations manager for Wyndham.
The negotiations with the global firm started about 1-½ years ago, according to Kaiser. And the process to sell to a publicly-traded company involved an extensive background check of the company and its owners, he said.
“They liked our inventory and the quality of our inventory,’’ he said. “They thought the world of our people and how dedicated they are and how long they have been here. They want to grow the market.’’
Kaiser plans to focus on real estate sales and some of his development projects, including Martyn Woods subdivision off Baldwin County 6 in Gulf Shores and the gulf-front Cottages at Romar in Orange Beach.
At the same time Wyndham acquired Kaiser, the firm also bought Oceana Resorts with more than 1,000 condominium units in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Cumbrian Cottages in the United Kingdom, with more than 2,500 vacation homes.
Wyndham Vacation Rentals now has more than 100,000 properties in over 500 destinations.
