Strategic investor sought for Grand Oriental Hotel

By Deepal V.Perera

Bank of Ceylon, the owners of the Grand Oriental Hotel (GOH) one of the oldest landmarks in the heart of the city has called for Expression Of Interest (EOI) from foreign parties for investment or management.

A senior BOC official told Daily FT that GOH is one of the oldest hotels in the South Asian region and bank is looking forward to offers from international operators who have experience with heritage hotel brands.

Built by British in 1837 GOH is a heritage hotel with 200 rooms. A minimum investment of US$ 10 million is earmarked for GOH’s upgrade.

The interested parties should agree to invest in bringing back the GOH to its original condition, but with modern facilities.

The Bank also said that its offices currently operating in the hotel premises will be vacated soon to accommodate the new development initiatives. The closing date for EOI is 20 November.

 “Currently the hotel is operating only with 100 rooms and the rest of the building is occupied by bank offices. Once these offices vacated the premises would offer rest of the 100 rooms giving 200 rooms back to the hotel,” the BOC official added.

GOH’s current car park is now occupied by the Police Headquarters and is expected to be released by under the new town development plan. The issue of high security zone within which GOH was operating is no more as the entire area is now cleared.