The Ritz-Carlton Kapalua hotel will undergo a $40 million renovation under new owners that have acquired the luxury Maui property.

A partnership of institutional investors comprising The Gencom Group, Highgate Holdings and Whitehall Street Global Real Estate LP 2005 purchased the 548-room hotel on leased land for an undisclosed price.

The seller was Capital Hotel Investments LLC, a joint venture of Marriott International and investment firm Blackacre Capital Management LLC that bought the property in 2001 for $144 million.

Ritz-Carlton, a Marriott brand, will continue managing the property under a long-term contract. Besides the renovation, no big changes are planned for the hotel, which employs about 700 people.

"We're big fans of the Ritz-Carlton brand," said Greg Denton, senior vice president of Gencom, a Miami-based hotel investment and development firm that counts five other Ritz-Carltons and two more in development among other hotels it owns.

The Ritz-Carlton Kapalua is Gencom's first Hawai'i hotel investment. An affiliate of Whitehall, an investment fund sponsored and managed by Goldman Sachs, bought the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort for about $279 million last year. Highgate Holdings is a private investment firm that has invested in hotels with Goldman previously.

The Ritz-Carlton Kapalua was developed in 1992 for $206 million by Japan-based Nissho Iwai Corp. in a joint venture with Ritz-Carlton and Maui Land & Pineapple Co. on 40 acres of land leased from Maui Land & Pine. The hotel struggled financially in the mid-1990s. Nissho bought out its partners in 1996, and eventually sold the hotel to Marriott.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.