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May 14, 2008:
A 130-room hotel, being built on Cape Town's upmarket V&A Waterfront, is due to open in October 2009.
It is set on a one-hectare site on the Waterfront's Marina and framed by the panorama of two World Heritage sites, Table Mountain and Robben Island. Developed by the international hotelier Sol Kerzner, it is the latest of the global One&Only "urban resort" brands, and crowned by three penthouses, each listed on the South African property market this week at a record-breaking R100m.
These double-story residences – each nearly three times the size of the hotel's ballroom - are integrated into the design of the hotel and its setting.
These services include a concierge and butler, a housekeeper and the Spa and Fitness Centre – with a-la-carte catering from the hotel's celebrated Nobu Japanese restaurant.
The hotel will consist of a 92-suite Marina Tower linked by bridges to two islands within the marina. These will house another 40 luxurious villa suites, a large landscaped swimming pool and restaurant, and a 1,200sq m health spa and fitness complex.
This is the first hotel that Johannesburg-born Sol Kerzner will open in South Africa since he completed the Palace of the Lost City in the Pilanesberg in 1992. Since then, his Kerzner International group has become a major force in the global resort market with its One&Only properties in Mauritius and the Maldives, Dubai, the Bahamas and Mexico.
"I'm excited about coming back home at the top end of the South African hotel market," he said, once again free to operate in his home country following a contractual hold-off agreement with his previous hotel group.
"There were certain business restraints on my doing so earlier. Soon after that restraint period was removed we began negotiating with the management of the Waterfront to develop this project.
"I've always believed that this is one of the greatest sites for a new hotel in Cape Town – which is in itself one of the most outstanding scenic cities worldwide.
"It will appeal to international and domestic travellers, and we will be opening the One&Only Cape Town in time for the 2010 World Cup."
For more information contact Melanie Millin-Moore on 083 463 8414 or send an email.
