This is not the first time Americans have shown interest in the now devastated Dubrovnik Belvedere Hotel, constructed back in 1985 and once known as one of the best hotels in all of former Yugoslavia.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 18th of February, 2020, after eight whole years of failing to make a new investment at the site of the war-ravaged Dubrovnik Belvedere Hotel, Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg is now tired of the charade and could sell the Dubrovnik Belvedere Hotel to another, new investor.
Over recent days, American investors have visited Dubrovnik Mayor Mato Frankovic because they are interested in opening a new five-star hotel in Dubrovnik, according to local portal Dubrovacki dnevnik.
That would likely involve the rebuilding of the old Belvedere hotel, a now ruined complex for which Vekselberg had demolition plans in order to build a new but more luxurious hotel in its place, according to the preliminary design of the 3LHD architectural office.
As Mayor Mato Frankovic told Jutarnji list on Thursday, he was visited by a delegation from a renowned American hotel chain interested in rebuilding the Dubrovnik Belvedere Hotel, which in its current form is synonymous of Dubrovnik’s immense suffering during the Homeland War.
”They came with reconstruction visuals and studies, but first they wanted to see how the project was spatially planned, that is, to check what could be done within the area. They’re interested in the reconstruction of the existing project, in the existing dimensions, and the advantage is that the project has a building and an occupancy permit, while the investors would need to obtain a reconstruction permit,” said Frankovic, who believes that the idea for the Belvedere’s renovation is a realistic one.
Unofficial sources have learned that potential American investors have reportedly not started actual negotiations with Belvedere owner Viktor Vekselberg so far. It has also been unofficially learned that both French and Croatian investors are also interested in the project, in addition to the aforementioned Americans.
According to their source(s), the American delegation wants to get better acquainted with the complete spatial-planning situation of the project, that is, to get information from the city administration about what types of interventions could be done at the Dubrovnik Belvedere Hotel’s premises.
This is, as stated, not the first time Americans have shown interest in the devastated hotel which showcases the uglier ghosts of Dubrovnik’s recent wartime past. Through several auctions, US hotel chain Hyatt International has shown interest in buying Belvedere.
Kempinski, Valamar and Rixos, the British company Fenestra Village, the French consortium BCC, the Canadian-Swiss group Fairmont Hotels have also shown a degree of interest in the huge complex which is currently home to little more than cats and snakes.
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