A bouquet of hotels, from Singapore

A bouquet of hotels, from Singapore
SOHINI MOOKHERJEA

Calcutta, May 29: The Singapore-based company converting Lady Ranu Mukherjee’s Ho Chi Minh Sarani house into a boutique-heritage hotel will also create a string of hospitality addresses across the state — from New Town to Darjeeling.

The Wellside Group has tied up with Singapore’s biggest real estate developer, the $15-billion Far East Organisation, and Starwood Capital Group Global to invest Rs 800 crore in Bengal.

The plan includes a business-cum-convention centre and hotel in New Town Rajarhat, a luxury destination in the hills and a chain of smart hotels in smaller cities .

“We are looking at setting up a combination of properties. About 60 per cent of the investment would be ours. The share of Far East and Starwood Capital would be decided later,” said Aditya Poddar, the chairman of the Wellside Group of Companies.

Far East chief executive officer Philip Ng will meet Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee next month.

Wellside will form a separate hospitality company with Far East, which has been operating in Singapore for 45 years and has over 180 development and investment companies under its umbrella.

Far East’s hospitality division has five hotels — Orchard Parade, The Elizabeth, Albert Court, Golden Landmark and Changi Village — in Singapore. Its sister concern, Sino Group, has the 674-room Royal Pacific Hotel and Towers, the City Garden Hotel, Island Pacific Hotel, and the Gold Coast Hotel in Hong Kong.

Part of the renowned hospitality and real estate group Starwood, St-arwood Capital specialises in real estate investment on behalf of private and institutional partners.

The new company’s first project will be the heritage hotel opposite 22, Camac Street.

The property, Poddar said, will be christened Rajbari.

Discussions are on with the Raffles chain of Singapore for its management.

“We hope to finalise our partner in the next seven to 10 days,” Poddar said, adding Rs 275 crore will be invested in the project.

Around Rs 200 crore will be invested in the New Town hotel. The company has applied to the government for land.

For the luxury property in Darjeeling, which “should be finalised in the next one month”, Poddar did not rule out looking at tea estates.

The budget for this one: Rs 80 to 90 crore.

A chain of smart budget-business hotels is also on the anvil in cities like Siliguri, Haldia and Kharagpur, each at a cost of around Rs 60 crore.

“The room rates would be between Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 and would target business travellers in cities of commercial interest,” said Poddar.

The Siliguri project is likely to kick off first. Poddar said it would be finalised within the next month.