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Fancy Living In A Six-Star Hotel? Corinthia To Offer Luxurious Experience To Wealthy Residents

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A photomontage of the proposed project

The ‘Golden Mile’ in St George’s Bay is truly set to become a playground for the rich in the near future, after Corinthia confirmed it plans to offer a luxury living experience to its new residents.

A spokesperson for IHI, which owns the Corinthia hotel chain, confirmed that the two 15-storey residential blocks planned for the area behind the current Corinthia hotel will be luxury serviced apartments.

“The serviced residential development will enjoy the same level of amenities and service as the new Corinthia Hotel,” the spokesperson told Lovin Malta.

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That statement is significant as IHI plans to revamp the current building into Malta’s first six-star hotel, matching the hotel chain’s standards worldwide in cities such as London, St Petersburg, Budapest, Prague and Khartoum. Residents can therefore expect to be waited on hand and foot by concierges, butlers and chauffeurs, and make use of indoor swimming pools and other leisure facilities.

“Our over-riding plan is to deliver a luxury holistic environment for our new Corinthia hotel, matching our brand’s standards worldwide,” the spokesperson said. “This is a risk which we are prepared to take based on our strong confidence in the future of Malta, and the potential of our tourism product to attract higher-spending visitors. Real estate development will be complementary and supportive of that main focus, including in the overall landscaped setting of the development.”

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One of Corinthia’s luxury apartments in London. Photo: Knight Frank

IHI, which owns Corinthia, has agreed to pay €51.4 million in compensation to the government in return for the lifting of a waiver which forbids them from building residences on the land.

The compensation fee was calculated by audit firm Deloitte, using the same land valuation formula it had used to determine the land value of the adjacent Institute of Tourism Studies prior to its sale to the db Group. The deal has been harshly criticised by the Malta Developers’ Association, who warned that the government was distorting the property market by selling public land on the cheap.

While Deloitte valued IHI’s land at €1,250 per square metre and a total gross value of €121.7 million, several deductions were then made from this gross value to leave IHI with a bill of €51.4 million, out of which €17 million will be a premium payable over several years. The dedications are intended to cover infrastructure costs, compensation for foregone assets and rights concerning the to-be-demolished Marina Hotel, IHI’s recent acquisition of the Radisson Blue Resort and future tourist related development that will take place on the site.

Although Deloitte’s calculated compensation fee was €50.3 million, this was bumped up to €51.4 million after IHI agreed to pay €1 million over the next ten years to the Pembroke and St Julian’s local councils in an act of social corporate responsibility.

Corinthia

The current Corinthia hotel

Corinthia’s plan to offer residents a sky-high quality living experience is similar to the plans proposed by the db Group for its City Centre project on the adjacent ITS site, meaning the ‘Golden Mile’ could truly become a haven for the super-rich.

The luxury residences and the revamping of the Corinthia hotel and lido form part of the first phase of IHI’s project, which also includes the conversion of the Radisson Blu into a hotel targeted at business travellers, the destruction of the Marina Hotel, the construction of entertainment and retail outlets and the intensive landscaping of more than half the site.

READ NEXT: Malta Developers Association Hits Out At Corinthia Six-Star Hotel Deal: ‘It Will Distort The Property Market’

Tim is interested in the rapid evolution of human society and is passionate about justice, human rights and cutting-edge political debates. You can follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X at @timdiacono or reach out to him at [email protected]

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