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http://today.reuters.com/business/ne...-COLONY-DC.XML
DUBAI (Reuters) - U.S.-based real estate firm Colony Capital is planning to invest up to $1.1 billion over ten years to develop a resort complex on Morocco's Atlantic coast, the company's chief executive said.
Morocco is developing a chain of coastal holiday resorts under a 10 billion euro ($12.18 billion) program to attract 10 million tourists annually by 2010, up from around 6 million a year now.
"We have won a big project in Morocco, one of five mega-projects awarded by the government, which will be worth 10 billion (Moroccan dirhams) over 10 years," Tom Barrack said on the sidelines of a private equity conference in Dubai.
Barrack said the resort will be in Taghazout, a village north of Agadir along the Atlantic coast. The Moroccan tourism department said on its Web site the resort will include 16,000 hotel beds, golf courses, and entertainment complexes.
Barrack also said on Monday that Colony Capital is planning investments of up to $300 million over the next three to five years in the United Arab Emirates real estate market.
He said the UAE market would hit a correction but in the long term would continue to surge as rapid expansion of the UAE's airlines bring more business travelers to Dubai for shopping and conventions.
LARGE INTEGRATED RESORTS
Colony Capital, which joined with Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal to buy Fairmont Hotels and Resorts Inc. in January, was also looking for opportunities along the Mediterranean coast, particularly in Egypt and Libya, Barrack said, without giving details.
"We're looking in areas where we can add value, particularly in large integrated resorts," he said.
The wealthy emirate of Dubai has led a property boom in the Gulf Arab region that started in 2002 when it allowed foreign investment in real estate, helping to turn large parts of the city into a construction site.
Real estate prices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi have roughly doubled in the past two years, leading some analysts to warn that it is an unsustainable bubble.
But Barrack said Dubai's role as the region's tourism and business hub will grow in the long term.
"You will have supply and demand imbalances that will cause a correction but if it is managed correctly it will come back," he said. "I'm not smart enough to predict boom and bust but in the long term I feel very comfortable in this market."
He said Colony Capital was seeking local partners to develop resorts to meet a growth in expected demand for conventions.
"The next iteration for the UAE in tourism is group meeting places," he said. "Conventions need hotel rooms and there's not enough hotels to move the big conventions here -- and now you have the airlines to be able to do that."
http://today.reuters.com/business/ne...-COLONY-DC.XML
DUBAI (Reuters) - U.S.-based real estate firm Colony Capital is planning to invest up to $1.1 billion over ten years to develop a resort complex on Morocco's Atlantic coast, the company's chief executive said.
Morocco is developing a chain of coastal holiday resorts under a 10 billion euro ($12.18 billion) program to attract 10 million tourists annually by 2010, up from around 6 million a year now.
"We have won a big project in Morocco, one of five mega-projects awarded by the government, which will be worth 10 billion (Moroccan dirhams) over 10 years," Tom Barrack said on the sidelines of a private equity conference in Dubai.
Barrack said the resort will be in Taghazout, a village north of Agadir along the Atlantic coast. The Moroccan tourism department said on its Web site the resort will include 16,000 hotel beds, golf courses, and entertainment complexes.
Barrack also said on Monday that Colony Capital is planning investments of up to $300 million over the next three to five years in the United Arab Emirates real estate market.
He said the UAE market would hit a correction but in the long term would continue to surge as rapid expansion of the UAE's airlines bring more business travelers to Dubai for shopping and conventions.
LARGE INTEGRATED RESORTS
Colony Capital, which joined with Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal to buy Fairmont Hotels and Resorts Inc. in January, was also looking for opportunities along the Mediterranean coast, particularly in Egypt and Libya, Barrack said, without giving details.
"We're looking in areas where we can add value, particularly in large integrated resorts," he said.
The wealthy emirate of Dubai has led a property boom in the Gulf Arab region that started in 2002 when it allowed foreign investment in real estate, helping to turn large parts of the city into a construction site.
Real estate prices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi have roughly doubled in the past two years, leading some analysts to warn that it is an unsustainable bubble.
But Barrack said Dubai's role as the region's tourism and business hub will grow in the long term.
"You will have supply and demand imbalances that will cause a correction but if it is managed correctly it will come back," he said. "I'm not smart enough to predict boom and bust but in the long term I feel very comfortable in this market."
He said Colony Capital was seeking local partners to develop resorts to meet a growth in expected demand for conventions.
"The next iteration for the UAE in tourism is group meeting places," he said. "Conventions need hotel rooms and there's not enough hotels to move the big conventions here -- and now you have the airlines to be able to do that."
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