After remaining shut for almost two decades, the Sea Rock hotel in Mumbai is set to have a new look before it throws open its doors three years from now.
The Indian Hotels Company that owns the Taj brand of hotels has appointed Wimberly Allison Tong and Goo (WATG), a US-based hotel and resort architecture firm to rebuild the commercial complex.
The existing structure will be demolished to give way to a new hotel complex that would integrate the existing luxury hotel, Lands End —owned by the Taj group — with the proposed colossal structure.
The Sea Rock had closed shop following a bomb explosion inside one of the guest rooms damaging the structure during the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts.
Work on the imposing yet complex project is expected to begin shortly. “This new structure would be visually cohesive, functionally rational, operationally efficient and would be coherently planned,” said an official.
The proposed hotel complex is being promoted as the benchmark to luxury destinations for hotel guests, event attendees and shoppers. It would include hotel guest rooms, private residences, spa, pools, exhibition halls, board rooms, banquet halls, business centres, among others.
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The proposed complex has been designed to offer an uninterrupted view of the Arabian Sea from all corners and would boast of close to 1,000 rooms, including the existing 493 rooms of Lands End.
Apart from WATG, three companies -- Atkins Design Group, Yazdani Studio of Cannon Design and John Portman & Associates -- were short-listed by IHCL for the project following a bidding process. The companies had a month to work on the design.
An email response from WATG confirmed that it had won the contract but refused to divulge details of the project. Although WATG is a little known brand in India, the company had executed projects like the Leela Palace Kempenski and The Ritz-Carlton in Bengalore and The Leela in Goa.
According to IHCL officials the project would take at least three years to complete. The company aims to create an iconic, memorable and brand relevant image of the Taj group which would replicate the success of Taj Mahal, Colaba.
In June 2009, IHCL bought 85 per cent in ELEL — a subsidiary of the Delhi-based Claridges Group headed by the Nandas — that owns the Sea Rock property for Rs 680 crore. It was earlier in an agreement with Claridges to provide technical and management expertise for the restoration and operations of the hotel. However, the Tata-owned company decided to buy the prime property.
IHCL paid for the deal with the money raised through the rights issue of Rs 1,400 crore in mid-2008.