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Dubai: Property developer ETA Star, part of the ETA Ascon Group, will add Dh8 billion worth of projects to the group's luxury hotel portfolio in the second half of this year, a senior company official said.
The group, which is developing over 30 million square feet of premium property in countries in the Middle East and South East Asia, including UAE, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Turkey, recently announced it will be bringing the exclusive St Regis Hotel to Dubai.
The hotel project is valued at around Dh600 million.
"I think St Regis is our premium brand. It is the most premium brand of the Starwood Group and its exclusive... the services will be world renowned. We believe it will add value to our existing portfolio of luxury hotel properties," Abid Junaid, executive director of ETA Star, said in an exclusive interview.
ETA has spent months in talks with the Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide to finalise the agreement to develop St Regis, to be owned by ETA and operated by Starwood.
The 220-room hotel, together with 80 residences, will open its doors in 2012. St Regis will be located in the Business Bay - the new downtown in Dubai.
The luxurious St Regis is not the only high end property on the cards for ETA. Their hotel portfolio includes the Taj Hotel at the Palm Jumeirah and the Marriott in Dubai Lifestyle City.
Junaid said ETA's "report card" for the first half of the year includes the "hugely successful" Verde Residences and Offices twin towers, which brought in around Dh4 billion, a figure similar to the first half of last year.
Junaid said the second half would bring in considerably more with two projects to be launched in Dubai Maritime City, one residential and the other commercial.
Plans for a five-star hotel property in Muscat and four more hotels in India, in Chennai and Bangalore, were also in the pipeline.
Junaid said ETA Star mitigated the risks in the construction sector, notably the high cost of building materials and labour, by appointing contractors immediately after launching its projects.
Junaid estimates that construction costs have doubled in the last three years.
"As far as current construction costs are concerned, these are reflected in the current selling prices as well," he said.
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