Habtoor unveils $1.33b Dubai hotel theatre complex
The Al Habtoor Group has unveiled ‘Habtoor Palace’, a US $1.33 billion hotel and theatre mega-project to be built on the 1 million sqft site of the Metropolitan Hotel on Dubai’s Sheikh Zayed Road.
Demolition of the Metropolitan Hotel, one of the emirate’s oldest properties, will commence in June 2012 to make way for the development, comprising two tall towers rising from a five-storey podium.
Habtoor Palace includes three new hotels with a combined total of 1612 rooms, a 1100-seat theatre, 50,000 sq ft of banqueting and meetings facilities, a shopping arcade, tennis and sports academy and multiple themed restaurants.
Construction of the project, wholly funded by The Al Habtoor Group, is expected to begin in quarter one of 2012 and is scheduled for completion in 2015, "in less than 46 months”.
The three five-star hotels, of which the operators have not yet been named, include a five-storey 222-key hotel, a 424-room “lifestyle” property, and a 36-storey 966 room business hotel. Up to 400,000 sqft of the project will be landscaped gardens.
Speaking at the launch event at the Metropolitan Hotel today, chairman Khalaf Al Habtoor said: “Around 36 years ago when I came to this site it was the most difficult to access, but now it is the most central part of Dubai accessible from everywhere. I couldn’t sleep thinking what to do with this beautiful property but I have decided to complete a new project on this site.”
He added that the most “useful and loyal” staff members at the Metropolitan Hotel would be redeployed among the group’s Dubai properties and some to its hotels in Lebanon.
Al Habtoor continued: "The most important part of this project is the theatre, which will compare to theatres in Las Vegas."
The arena will feature a hydraulic central stage, water features and movable floors. Vice chairman and CEO Mohammed Al Habtoor explained that the group had partnered with theatre director Franco Dragone - famous for his Las Vegas productions including Le Reve - and the Dubai theatre would show two productions a day.
Speaking to Hotelier on the sidelines of the conference, Khalaf Al Habtoor said: “The main factor, the UAE now the only place I can say in the Middle East and the Arab world is a safe haven for investment. A lot of headquarters are moving there and this is the most important to us. We have the infrastructure, no country has infrastructure like Dubai, and the facilities.
When asked how the group would cope with competition from the influx of hotel rooms coming up in Dubai, including the 1614-room JW Marriott Marquis Dubai due to open in Q4 on Shiekh Zayed Road, Al Habtoor said: “There is demand – we will cater for the good-quality people, mainly the Europeans who don’t have the sun.”