The Grand Oriental Hotel (GOH), Sri Lanka and probably Asia’s oldest hotel at the waterfront in Fort, is preparing a face-lift and major refurbishment under an international heritage brand, officials said this week. The re-development of the 175 year-old Victorian hotel built in 1837 to house British soldiers is part of the creation of a [...]

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The Sundaytimes Sri Lanka

‘President’s Sq’ with Raffles, GOH and waterfront

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The Grand Oriental Hotel (GOH), Sri Lanka and probably Asia’s oldest hotel at the waterfront in Fort, is preparing a face-lift and major refurbishment under an international heritage brand, officials said this week.

The re-development of the 175 year-old Victorian hotel built in 1837 to house British soldiers is part of the creation of a new President’s Square costing US$1 billion in the heart of Colombo. The square would be adjoining a new Raffles property coming up next door along with another 200-300 five star hotel – where Police Headquarters is located. The main police headquarters is to be moved outside Fort just like army headquarters which is making way for the Shangri-La hotel complex and other development adjacent to the Galle Face Green.

The development handled by the Urban Development Authority (UDA) and the corporate sector is among Colombo’s plans to be positioned as the tourist capital of the region.

“We are talking to international heritage brands – upmarket ones – to find a suitable partner,” said Gamini Wickramasinghe, Chairman of the Bank of Ceylon (BoC) which owns the GOH told the Business Times earlier in the week (before reports emerged that he had sent in his resignation). “We’ll also have to move the bank’s foreign unit branches out (when the development begins)”.

The plan is to renovate the GOH into a 200-room hotel from a current 80 rooms.

Last week, the cabinet approved a proposal by President Mahinda Rajapaksa as Minister of Defence and Urban Development, to develop the GOH as a 5-Star hotel at a Cost of US$1 billion.

It said the GOH and adjoining lands owned by the Police Department and the waterfront would be developed while maintaining its heritage.

“The Bank of Ceylon has prepared a comprehensive redevelopment project proposal covering the above area. The project is to be implemented in three stages and the total investment would be around $1 billion,” the cabinet statement said.

Mr Wickramasinghe said the development would involve the creation of a President’s Square with walkways and other development.
“The UDA and the BoC are together talking to an overseas state development agency to develop the area,” he said. Earlier this year, the Business Times exclusively on May 27 reported that the legendary, Singapore-based Raffles chain is coming to Sri Lanka through another local legend, Cargills Group.

The report said that Raffles Resorts & Hotels was in negotiations with the Cargills Group to set up the Raffles at the old Cargills building in Fort which dates back to 1844. Raffles has nine luxurious properties in Singapore, Cambodia, China, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles and Paris.




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