New York-based NRI hotelier Sant Chatwal has set his eyes on acquiring finished and semi-finished properties in most of the 21 cities he has identified across India.
HYDERABAD: In a bid to speed up his ambitious agenda of owning and managing 27 hotel properties by 2011 in the country, New York-based NRI hotelier Sant Chatwal has set his eyes on acquiring finished and semi-finished properties in most of the 21 cities he has identified across India.
Chatwal’s Hampshire Hotels & Resorts LLC, which owns and runs hotels in US, Canada, Asian and UK including a room stock of 3,000 in Manhattan alone kicked off the first hotel property in India, the Hampshire Plaza Hotel, a business hotel, here on Thursday.
“While 10 of the 27 properties have already been committed I am in talks with promoters of four to five underdevelopment properties in various cities, one of which is valued around Rs 200 crore,” said Chatwal.
The group is looking at an inventory of 5,000 rooms in these 27 hotels at an investment of Rs 5,000 crore plus.
The group has already identified and locked in land for 10 of these properties ranging between 1 to 10 acres including a 10 acre property in Bangalore and six acres in Delhi, he said. “I am to get the remaining properties committed by the end of the year”, he added.
The initial buildup is being funded entirely through equity component of Rs 1,000 crore, which is entirely from Chatwal’s own resources while existing equity partners in his US operations have committed the remaining Rs 1,000 crore equity. “I will bring in these commitments at a later date when the projects have proceeded into development,” he added.
Hampshire Hotels & Resorts, will kick off the second property in India, a luxury brand in Kochi, by May this year, he said.
Significantly, HHI will also kick off a new boutique brand, Dream Hotels, in India apart from convention hotels in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore with capacities of between 2500 to 4000 seats. The Kochi property will be a mini-convention property with a capacity for 1200 people.
The second hotel property in Hyderabad will be complete by July 2009 apart from a third luxury hotel land for which is close to being locked in close to the upcoming international airport.
Hampshire is looking to build three properties in Bangalore, including one near the new airport, two in Kochi, and two in Chennai.
p_chitti@dnaindia.net
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