Tuesday, April 8, 2008 [ philstar.com ]
Gatchalian-owned Waterfront Philippines Inc. is in talks with a Macau-based company to jointly build a hotel-casino within the Manila Bay Integrated Tourism City estimated to cost between P500 million and P1 billion.
On the sidelines of Asia’s Gaming & Enterntainment and Leisure Expo last week, plastics king William Gatchalian whose family controls Waterfront, said the casino-hotel will be a 60-40 joint venture in favor of the Macau-based firm.
The 2,500-room hotel will rise on a five-hectare property to be developed over a four-year period beginning next year.
Gatchalian said the property will be leased to the Philippine Amusement & Gaming Corp.
Waterfront is setting aside around P5 billion for the acquisition of up to four hotels within the next two years as it aims to develop its own brand of the first class business hotel and casino segment. It is eyeing hotels in Iloilo, Ortigas, and Cagayan de Oro.
Waterfront, the only hotel chain in the country that has a presence in the key cities of the country, has a 2,000-square meter lot in Ortigas and another 3,000-sq.m. property in Buendia, Makati.
The company is developing a resort in Uson Island in Palawan, which is slated for completion in 2009. It would also build hotels, residential homes and a convention area in the resort.
Waterfront owns and operates the Manila Pavilion Hotel and G Hotel in Manila, the Waterfront Cebu City hotel and Casino, the Waterfront Airport hotel and Casino in Mactan, and Waterfront Insular hotel in Davao.
Its marketing network stretches across 2,000 local and international travel agencies and 5,000 active corporate clients.
_____________________________________________________________________
