Originally Posted by
khabah
Qatari Diar owns a few high-profile assets around the world including the Nile Corniche project in Cairo, Egypt, which will house a St. Regis later this year. They also acquired the Eero Saarinen-designed US Embassy building on London's Grosvenor Square and will redevelop it into a new luxury hotel within the next five years after the Embassy moves to Nine Elms in a few months. My hunch is that they'll bring St. Regis to London in that location.
Your list is great but here's my input:
- I'm not counting on Auckland/Sydney; there's a Ritz-Carlton coming in 2019 for Auckland and an almost sure-shot Ritz coming to Star Point in Sydney.
- I was seriously hoping for St. Regis to come out on top for the Century Plaza redevelopment in Los Angeles, but alas, a pity that'll be a Fairmont.
- Kuwait was supposed to get a St. Regis [in addition to another four-star property, most likely a Four Points] as part of its expansion of the Avenues mall but that didn't come to fruition and the developer there partnered with Hilton instead to introduce a Conrad to the site, but recently changed that agreement to include a Waldorf-Astoria instead of the Conrad.
Also of note, the way things are going, we might see a St. Regis in Toronto sooner than we think now that the Trump International Hotel & Tower has struck a deal with the Trump Organization to part ways.
A world with more St. Regis properties would be a nice place indeed. Pretty sure Marriott has some plans for the brand, especially in Asia where it's more highly regarded.
khabah
Thanks for the London FYI. That would be fabulous, indeed, and I hadn't heard anything previously. Will pay attention to that for certain! I also wondered about the Old War Office and Admiralty Arch as potential StR locations in London.
Agree on Sydney and Melbourne with RC...but the particularly high regard for the StR brand in Asia gives me hope for StR making its way eventually to Australia (and Auckland). There is supposed to be a new W coming to the Sydney Darling Harbor redevelopment, as well as to Melbourne (and Brisbane) so that may be why StR hasn't been a push in the region.
Agree again on the LA Century Plaza redevelopment. As an OC local, I'd love to see a StR in LA. But I'm hopefully with so many new hotel/condo towers planned for downtown that one will include StR. Especially with the Olympics likely in LA by 2028.
And some sources I know are very confident that the StR Toronto will be announced within a few weeks now that the Trump brand removal has been negotiated. That's why I didn't mention Toronto in the first place.
You seem to like StR as much as I do!
