Barons Court to add second hotel to Egypt's Alex West project

Barons Court Sports and Leisure, a real estate developer based in Alexandria, Egypt, plans to invest EGP300 million in the development of its second hotel as part of the Alex West project in the Alexandria governorate. According to Hisham Akram, MD at Barons Court, the developer is preparing consultancy studies for a 250-guestroom hotel, which will be added into Alex West.

The firm has been working to enhance the current hotel services of the project by developing several other hotels to increase the guestroom stock in Alex West to 1,500. Barons Court's main goal is to aid the Alexandria governorate, which has been struggling with a shortage of large 4-and 5-star hotels. Alexandria's existing hotel supply does not exceed 3,500 guestrooms.

Talks with several international hotel companies are underway to appoint management for the development. The firm has received various offers from investors to establish partnerships for the hotel's management, which is are also being taken into consideration 

The Alex West Project, which is in the western region of Alexandria, has numerous activities between the hotel and residences with EGP50-billion investments. Roughly EGP10 billion will be devoted to commercial and administrative buildings, while EGP15 billion will be invested in residences. Another EGP2 billion will go toward educational activities, as EGP500 million will be spent on sports activities and clubs. 

The first residential phase—the approximately 5,704,873 square-foot Antoniades project consisting of 520 villas—is already complete. Its second phase, Saint Catherine, is still under development, and will consist of 406 villas. Meanwhile, the third residential phase, which has economic housing with 172 residential buildings and 5,000 housing units on a 5,026,746-square-foot plot, will be launched soon under the management of a company that specializes in facilities management. This third phase will be put on the market next month, according to Akram. 

Akram reported that Barons Court garnered EGP59 million in profits last year, while its total investments since the project began are at EGP2 billion. The company also invested EGP600 million in 2016. 

The company's second hotel in Alex West follows its 262-guestroom Radisson Blu Hotel, which opened in 2009 on a 355,209 square-foot plot. The hotel's total occupancy sits roughly at 85 percent. The latest addition to the mixed-use development is a 172,223 square-foot conference center, which recently opened. The property has four main halls, nine sub-halls and a 947,224-square-foot Saudi-German hospital. Some of Barons Court's newest development plans for Alex West are to construct a public hospital, seven specialized hospitals, a medical building and a medical science college.