New Ultra-Luxury Hotel to Rise along Bosporus

Apr 13, 10 | 1:58 am

A seven-star tourist hotel will soon be built in the Beşiktaş district of İstanbul on the shores of the Bosporus on the site of an old tobacco warehouse, a property owned by Tanrıverdi Holding.

A partnership agreement between Tanrıverdi and Hong-Kong based Shangri-La Asia, Ltd., to build the Shangri-La İstanbul Otel was signed in İstanbul on Saturday. The hotel is scheduled to start accepting guests in April 2012. Speaking at the signing ceremony, State Minister for Foreign Trade Zafer Çağlayan expressed his hopes that the partnership will precipitate new investment projects. Addressing Shangri-La's managers, the minister continued: "I am sure you will not be satisfied with this investment alone and will look for new investments as a result. You are making this investment in a country that will be one of the five brightest stars in the world by 2050." Tanrıverdi Holding Chairman Recep Tanrıverdi said the group was greeting the tourism sector with this investment. The hotel will be built both above and under ground, with a part of the structure situated below sea level, the chairman said. According to the agreement, Tanrıverdi will undertake the construction of the hotel and then lease it to Shangri-La for 30 years. The two companies will soon start another investment in tourism in Samsun, Tanrıverdi added.

Shangri-La Asia, Ltd., Chairman Kuok Khoon Ean, said his company currently operates 68 hotels worldwide and is planning to open another 38 or 40 hotels in the next four decades. "Four of them will be in Europe, and the İstanbul investment is one of them. We will also have hotels in Paris, Vienna and London."

The hotel has an estimated cost of $250 million. It will have seven stories above ground and seven others below sea level. The hotel will accommodate guests in 200 rooms and plans to be listed among the top 10 hotels in the world.


Source: Today's Zaman