SOFIA (Bulgaria), June 21 (SeeNews) – Bulgarian real estate and tourism investment company Terra Tour Service plans to invest 135 million euro ($194 million) in two hotel projects, chief executive officer Lachezar Todorov said on Tuesday.
"The first project is for the construction of a resort compound with 1,000-1,200 rooms in the northern part of [Black Sea resort] Sunny Beach," Todorov told SeeNews in an interview, adding that 100 million euro will be invested in it.
The second one involves the construction of a hotel in the centre of Sofia to replace the former hotel and cinema Serdika, he said.
The Sunny Beach project has been issued a construction permit. Terra Tour is currently negotiating with tour operators and plans to open the facility for the summer season of 2013.
The investment in the Sofia hotel is in an earlier stage whereas the company is now in negotiations with several major hotel chains. "After choosing the hotel brand, and complying with their requirements, we will proceed with the design project", Todorov said.
The former owners of the premium-location Serdika hotel, London-listed investment company Equest Balkan Properties, planned to convert the property into a shopping and business centre but abandoned the plans and divested the real estate in 2009.
The portfolio of Terra Tour Service, fully-owned by local company Agrohold, includes the Helios Beach Apartments residential complex, the RIU Helios Palace, RIU Helios Bay and LUCA Helios Beach hotels on the Black Sea and Pravets Golf & Spa near Sofia.
($=0.6977 euro)