Two iconic hotel chains vie for Worli property

Two global hotel chains are in the final race to flag their iconic luxury hotel brands in the Indian hospitality market. The hotel site being fought for is in Mumbai, and the project is coming up in the upmarket Worli area on Dr Annie Besant Road. While one of them is a second-time entrant, it will be an India debut for the other challenger.

Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group and Starwood Hotels & Resorts are in the advanced stages of discussion with Mumbai-based realtor Vikas Oberoi-promoted Oberoi Realty Ltd to lock-in the hotel site for their respective brands. The brands on offer include the flagship Mandarin Oriental brand from the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group and St Regis from the Starwood Hotels’ bouquet.

Pegged to be the biggest project from the Oberoi Realty stable, ground work on this 3.1mn sq ft land parcel has already started.

Located between the Crompton Greaves building and Grasim headquarters, the plot used to be a slum and will now be redeveloped. The slum dwellers will be relocated to a nearby area.
Oberoi Realty has already hired South Korean construction major Samsung Engineering & Construction (Samsung E&C) for this project. 

The firm was the lead contractor for Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower at 828m.

A senior official at Oberoi Realty told DNA that the company is the final stages of negotiations with Mandarin Oriental and Starwood Hotels & Resorts for a possible association and that a final announcement is likely to be made very soon. 

“Slum dwellers at the three different parcels will be rehabilitated to one site. This will completely free up the 3.1mn sq ft (msft), wherein 0.4mnsft will be allocated for a five-star luxury hotel, 0.6mnsft for commercial office space and 2.1mnsft of branded residency,” said the official.

The Goregaon based developer expects a revenue of Rs7,500-8,000 crore from this project, the official added. Vikas Oberoi, managing director of the company, declined to comment.

Once the hotel-cum-branded residence operator is finalised, the duo will enter into a 25-year contract. Oberoi Realty is planning to launch the residential segment sales by June 2011.

Officials of Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group could not be reached for a comment, while those at Starwood denied having signed any agreement for their St Regis brand in India. “Starwood has been exploring opportunities for a partner to bring the St Regis brand into India and Mumbai is one of the cities apart from Delhi and a couple of others that we are looking at. While we are in talks with potential partners, we do not have anything signed as yet,” said Nikhil Manchharam, vice-president, aquisitions and development, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Pvt Ltd for India, Bangladesh & Maldives.

Oberoi Realty has also signed a letter of intent for a redevelopment project in the western suburbs and the final development agreement would be signed in a month. The realtor expects to generate Rs15,000-20,000 per sq ft from the sale component. The company is also launching Oberoi Exquisite phase II of 1.4mnsft and 3.3mnsft development of Oberoi Exotica at Mulund at Rs7,000-8,000 per sq ft.

Mandarin Oriental currently operates (including those under development) 42 hotels representing over 10,000 rooms in 27 countries - 18 hotels in Asia, 12 in The Americas and 12 in Europe, Middle East and North Africa. In addition, the group operates, or has under development, 13 residences at Mandarin Oriental, connected to its properties. The group has equity interests in many of its properties and net assets of approximately $2.1 billion as on June 30, 2010.