Greek Hotel buys Belgrade hotel... and other European news

Greek Hotel buys Belgrade hotel
Greek Hotel has purchased Hotel Metropole in Belgrade through its hotel Sofia Balkan in Bulgaria at a price of €27m (£18.7m). Greek Hotel intends to engage in extensive renovation of Hotel Metropole to make it one of the Serb capital's most-luxurious hotels.

Montenegro urges foreign investors to build tourist complex
The Montenegrin government wants foreign investors who lease the island of Ada Bojana in the Adriatic Sea to agree to construct a tourist complex, featuring at least one five-star hotel. Other proposals include limiting the total number of beds on the island to 2,500 and to confine construction to only 60 of its 540 hectares. Austrian, US and Turkish investors have reportedly expressed interest in the project, which interested parties have until 5 July to bid on. The lease, which will be valid for 30 years, will cost the winning bidder €2.5m (£1.7m) annually.

British architect to design luxury Moscow hotel
British architect Lord Norman Foster will help design a new luxury hotel in Moscow. The hotel will replace the ageing Hotel Rossiya in the historic Zaradye area near Moscow's Red Square. The project, to be led by Shalva Chigirinsky's ST Development, will cost some US$800m (£439m). The Rossiya is to be demolished in 2007 at a cost of £13.4m and the new hotel constructed within two-and-a-half years. The project is the third collaboration of Chigirinsky and Foster in Russia. The other two are the redevelopment of New Holland Island in St Petersburg and construction of the Russia Tower in Moscow, intended to be the tallest in Europe.

Source: CEN

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