Olimpstroi, the state corporation overseeing construction for the Sochi games, has announced an agreement with AST Group, owned by Telman Ismailov, to invest in the main Sodruzhestvo hotel complex and another 150 room sea shore five star hotel.
Mr. Ismailov is the flamboyant Azerbaijani tycoon whose $1.5 billion Mardan Palace hotel in Turkey, was launched just before his Cherkizovsky Market in Moscow was closed after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin complained of smuggling.
AST will invest $800 million into two Sochi hotels, Olimpstroi said Thursday. The price tag is double what Ismailov had been expected to invest in the construction of hotels in the host city of the 2014 Winter Games.
Olimpstroi said Thursday that AST Group had signed an agreement to develop 4,000 rooms and that the two sides were negotiating the hotels' design and concept. 3,850 rooms will be of three- and four-star quality and be part of the 5,500-room Sodruzhestvo hotel complex, which is currently listed in the official program without an investor, Olimpstroi said. Sodruzhestvo, which will cover 24.9 hectares, will be the closest hotel to the main Olympic venues and will be located about 700 meters from the beach, according to Olimpstroi's map.
The International Olympic Committee needs 24,400 hotel rooms ranging from three to five stars for tourists, officials, journalists, athletes and other Olympic guests. In addition, 38,000 rooms are needed for tourists, Olimpstroi said.
Investors have still to be found for two four-star hotels with 1,120 rooms.
Two hotels of the Brussels-based Rezidor Hotel Group are to be opened soon at the ski resort of Krasnaya Polyana, where Olympic Alpine skiing and snowboarding events will take place. The hotels will be built on the territory of Roza Khutor ski centre.
The hotel Radisson Roza Khutor will be 180 rooms. The second hotel, the Park Inn Roza Khutor 200 metres from the Radisson will have 200 rooms.
The big problem facing Sochi is sustainability and use of the facilities after the Games.Sochi has a 3 month summer tourist season and a an equally short winter skiing season.
A delegation of senior Sochi 2014 officials, led by the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Kozak, in May visited the Munich Olympic Park for a series of meetings with legacy experts to discuss the opportunities for maximizing the positive legacy from the Sochi 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The Munich Olympic Park is one of the best examples of an Olympic Games leaving a enduring sporting and social legacy.
The high-level delegation - which also included Sochi 2014 President and CEO, Dmitry Chernyshenko, Mayor of Sochi, Anotaly Pakhomov and Deputy Governor of the Krasnodar Region Aleksandre Ivanov (with regional responsibility for Olympic construction) – were eager to see at first-hand a functioning example of a sustainable Olympic Park as part of their preparations for hosting Russia’s first ever Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. DOSB President and IOC Vice President, Dr. Thomas Bach, joined the delegation for meetings before the two-hour visit to the Munich Olympic Park which included a detailed presentation of the Olympic Park and a tour around the Olympic Stadium, Olympic Hall, Olympic Swimming Hall and Olympic Tower, which have all been in almost daily use since they were built for the 1972 Olympic Games.