Peter Kwee To Build 200-Room Hotel On Laguna Club Grounds

Source : The Straits Times, Sat, Aug 04, 2007

ENTREPRENEUR Peter Kwee, known for his cars and country clubs, will build a 200-room hotel on the grounds of his Laguna National Golf & Country Club.

The project, estimated to cost $90million, is expected to be completed by 2010. It will be the first hotel on a golf course in Singapore.

Mr Kwee, 60, told The Straits Times that regulatory approval has been granted, adding that the design, plan approval and tender process will take around nine months. Construction will take about two years.

The hotel's 2010 opening should leave it well-placed to cash in on the tourism boom that the integrated resorts are expected to herald.

Mr Kwee has not decided on the class of hotel. 'The money is in three- and four-star hotels, but the prestige is in five- and six-star ones,' he said.

But he is clear about other concepts he wants for the hotel, which will be his first in Singapore. He owns one hotel in Perth, Western Australia.

Mr Kwee said the Laguna hotel will be tied to the club membership and construction will coincide with a revamp of the golf course and its facilities, containing 16 rooms mainly to accommodate overseas players.

He has not decided whether Laguna will run the hotel but is in talks with a Japanese hotel management company.

He has also won approval to rebuild a Nassim Road site that may be used for a five-storey townhouse with a basement carpark and a swimming pool. This project will cost $120 million.

The real estate boom, with top-end apartments breaching $4,000 per sq ft and landed property crossing the $1,000 psf barrier, is good news to Mr Kwee. His land holdings stand at around 200,000 sq ft, all in the prime districts.

Barely three years ago, the Indonesian-born businessman had tongues wagging when he relinquished some properties, sports cars and two motor franchises.

Asked how much his net worth has increased with the boom, Mr Kwee said: 'It does not matter whether my properties have gone up by $10 million to $20 million. I can eat only three meals a day.'