American Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: AFG) announced on 31 August 2026 that it had completed the sale of the Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina, a hotel and marina complex located in Mount Pleasant, near Charleston, South Carolina. In line with the group’s previous guidance, AFG expects pretax core operating earnings of approximately $125 million, or around $1.03 per share after tax, subject to final accounting for costs and customary closing adjustments.
The official statement does not disclose the identity of the buyer. The property was owned in equal shares by parent company AFG and its subsidiary Great American Insurance Company; the resulting gain will be recorded as net investment income and split equally between the two entities.
A second sale agreement, following a failed deal in 2025
According to reports in the US business press, this closing comes nearly a year and a half after an initial sale agreement announced in March 2025, which had then carried an expected net after-tax gain of around $100 million. That original agreement was terminated in June 2025 following a due diligence period, with no reason made public. AFG said at the time that it would continue to evaluate strategic alternatives for the asset.
A new sale process was reported in spring 2026, with a target valuation raised to approximately $125 million — the figure ultimately confirmed at closing. This upward revision illustrates the resilience of valuations for waterfront resort assets in the United States, in a market where several hotel REITs have recently carried out portfolio-optimising asset disposals.
An asset held for more than two decades on public land
AFG originally acquired the property in 2002 for $17.5 million, buying out the original development group on a roughly 10.5-hectare parcel owned by the State of South Carolina at Patriots Point. The site comprises two fully operational hotels, a 459-slip marina, and a range of restaurants and shops. In 2016, the group built The Beach Club, a 92-room beachfront resort hotel, bringing the property’s total room count to approximately 217.
This long-term ownership by an insurer, rather than by a dedicated hotel operator or REIT, sets the transaction apart from more conventional sector disposals. It nonetheless echoes the capital allocation discipline already seen among several institutional owners of US hotel assets, who regularly reassess their holdings according to the valuation cycle.
A buoyant resort market for disposals
The closing of this transaction fits into a particularly active run of resort disposals in the United States. In recent months, several large-scale deals have confirmed investor appetite for this segment, including the sale of the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort & Spa in Colorado and the considerably larger sale of Grande Lakes Orlando Resort, sold for $1.38 billion.
For American Financial Group, whose core business remains commercial property and casualty insurance through Great American Insurance Group, the sale brings to a close more than two decades of ownership of an unconventional hotel asset within its investment portfolio.
At a glance by The Hospitality Tribune
American Financial Group closes sale of Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina
Deal closed August 31, 2026; buyer not publicly disclosed
Expected pretax core operating earnings: approximately $125 million ($1.20 per share after tax)
Property: two full-service hotels, 459-slip marina, ~10.5-hectare site at Patriots Point, Mount Pleasant, SC
AFG first acquired the asset in 2002 for $17.5 million; built The Beach Club (92 rooms) in 2016
Prior sale agreement, announced March 2025 at ~$100 million net after-tax gain, was terminated in June 2025
Gain to be split equally between AFG parent and Great American Insurance Company
