Hindustan Construction signs on Starwood Hotels to Manage Resort, Convention Centre at Lavasa Township

Hindustan Construction Company Ltd on January 05, 2007 has announced the appointment of Starwood Hotels and Resorts International to manage two hotel properties within its pioneering Lavasa township near Pune.

The first of the two properties is a 250-room Hotel with a 150,000 sq. ft. Convention Centre, which will be developed by the Company in technical collaboration with Starwood on an approx. 5 acre plot. The other is a 250-room resort, spread across approx 8 acres along the water-front.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Mr. Nicholas Bashkiroff, Chief Executive Officer, Lavasa, said, "It is our corporate vision to develop Lavasa as a preferred destination for both business and leisure. The technical and management expertise of Starwood will enable us to provide world-class facilities at Lavasa. With their vast global experience of managing world-class convention centers and resorts around the world, Starwood brings both international best practices as well as a stellar track record.

The collaboration arrangement was facilitated by Deloitte. Alex Kyriakidis, Global Managing Partner of Deloitte's Hospitality & Leisure Industry team, who advised the Company, said "Starwood’s brand will add significant value to Lavasa as a whole. With a significant encashment area including Mumbai and Pune, Lavasa will quickly develop into a mixed-use destination that will demand quality hotel brands such as in the Starwood basket".

The 12,500-acre Lavasa township around 20 sq km lake and its proximity to Mumbai and Pune sets a new paradigm for India in urban and infrastructure planning. Conceived as India's first post-Independence Hill Town, the destination has been planned according to the principles of new urban development. The brand vision of "Life in Full" was developed by the world's leading brand advisory, Landor Associates. The township itself has been master-planned by world-renowned planners Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum (HOK). The plan is to develop Lavasa as a world-class, integrated urban and economic centre providing an aspirational lifestyle and facilities where people can live, work, learn and play, in harmony with nature.

The Lavasa project has already won some of the world's most prestigious planning awards from The Congress of New Urbanism, USA and The American Society of Landscape Architects.

HCC Real Estate, a subsidiary of the Company, owns 60 per cent of Lavasa.

Source : Equity Bulls

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