Holiday Inn back in Chennai with Estancia

L&T Arun Excello Commercial Projects on Tuesday announced plans to set up Holiday Inn Estancia hotel in Chennai with an investment of Rs 150 crore. The 200-room, 75-suite hotel will become operational in 2011. This will mark the return of Holiday Inn to Chennai, which had first set up a hotel way back in 1973 that was later taken over by another prominent hotel chain.

Holiday Inn Estancia will be part of the Rs 1,500-crore Estancia Integrated Township that is being developed by engineering conglomerate Larsen & Tubro (L&T) and Arun Excello Urban Infrastructure through three special purpose vehicle companies. The hotel will be managed by the InterContinental Hotels Group.

The township project has been funded through a debt and equity components of 2.5 to 1. The debt fund has been provided by LIC Housing Finance and Indian Overseas Bank.

Apart from the new hotel, the township will house 1,900 residential apartments, a 3-million sft IT SEZ Park, a retail mall with multiplex and a school. The entire project has been designed by RMJM, a UK-based architectural firm.

While the residential apartments will be made ready in three phases, with the first one scheduled for delivery by June 2009, the full township with all the proposed elements will be ready by end of 2011. Project developers said the first phase of the residential apartments had already received 60 per cent booking with a base price of Rs 3,450 a sft.