The construction of what will be Ljubljana’s first five-star hotel began in the city centre on Wednesday. The 21-storey up-scale facility is expected to open its doors in 2017 to become the tallest building in the capital.
Hotel Intercontinental Ljubljana is being built by Delta Holding, a Serbian holding owned by one of the country’s richest people. The hotel is currently the biggest investment by Delta Holding in the EU, with its value estimated at EUR 45m. The company says the hotel will be the tallest and the most spectacular building in Ljubljana.
It will have 165 rooms, two banquet halls for 500 people, several conference halls, a presidential suite, a spa and a gym. The top floor will house a restaurant offering a panorama of the capital. The hotel will be constructed by Novo mesto-based CGP, which was picked among a dozen bidders, and the construction will be supervised by company Elita. The 23,000 m2 building will be erected on a site north of the medieval city centre, which Delta bought from fruit trading company Rastoder, which purchased it from a bankruptcy estate.
“We are ready to put up something magnificent,” Živorad Vasić of Delta Holding said at the ceremony, thanking the local authorities of Ljubljana for supporting the project. The hotel, which is to employ around 200 people, is expected to attract mainly executives, according to Vasić, who sees numerous opportunities to develop tourism in Ljubljana. The ceremony was attended by Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Janković, who said he was happy that the would involve Slovenian companies, adding that the capital was becoming interesting for foreign investors.
The Serbian holding also planned to build a shopping centre in the Stožice complex but pulled out in 2009. In 2006 cooperation among Delta, Croatian food company Agrokor and Slovenian retailer Mercator was mulled. Since then, Mercator has been acquired by Agrokor.
Source: The Slovenia Times
Photo: Delta Holding FB
