Work on Saadiyat Park Hyatt starts
The Dh1 billion Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi project on Saadiyat Island will be completed within 18 months, said its developer Abu Dhabi National Hotels (ADNH).
Work on the 314-room luxury resort began yesterday and it will welcome the first guests by the end of the first quarter of 2011.
Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi will be the first hotel to open on Saadiyat Island. "This will be the first operational hotel among 10 planned properties on a 9km stretch of coastline on the island," ADNH CEO Richard Riley said at the groundbreaking ceremony.
He told Emirates Business that the property would be wholly-owned by ADNH and the company planned to obtain funding from both local and international banks. However, he would not elaborate on the borrowing plans or sources of funds.
"We own the property, which will be operated by Hyatt Group under the brand name Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi, Saadiyat Island," Riley said. "The lead contractor is Al Jaber Engineering and Contracting, part of the Al Jaber Group."
The hotel is being developed on a total area of 93,000 square metres with a built-up area of 79,000 square metres. The 314 rooms will include 23 suites and a number of seaside single- and double-storey villas. Hill International is the project manager and Perkins Eastman is the architect. The hotel is being developed near the Gary Player Golf Course, work on which is already under way. Saadiyat Island is being developed as an international cultural and recreational destination.
Riley said ADNH planned to more than double the number of rooms it operated from the current 2,000 within three to four years. "Next year we will add 771 rooms in Abu Dhabi and 500 in Dubai, and within three to four years we plan to add 2,002 rooms in the country."
He said work on the company's two Dubai properties – the Jumeirah Sofitel Beach Hotel and Al Diar Al Barsha, a residence hotel – was on schedule. Al Diar would open next week and Sofitel Beach Hotel in July. The company is also building a property in Abu Dhabi, the Grand Canal project in the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque district, which is set to open next year and will add 771 villa rooms and suites. "These three Dubai and Abu Dhabi properties are being developed at a combined cost of Dh4bn," said Riley.
The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by officials from Abu Dhabi's Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC), which is developing the 27 sq km Saadiyat Island.
In addition to 10 beachside luxury hotels, world-class golf courses and educational institutes, there will be a number of museums, including the Zayed National Museum, the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and the Maritime Museum.
Andrew Seymour, Infrastructure Director at TDIC, said the number of hotels could increase along with rise in demand. "With the opportunities and demand growing, we expect to have up to 28 luxury hotels on the island. The island, in addition to hotels and museums, will also have private villas and mixed-used development projects," he said.
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