Swiss hotel chain Kempinski Group is turning the colonial-era former Police Commissioner’s Office on Yangon’s Strand Road into a luxury hotel with 229 rooms, a rooftop bar and a ballroom.
Auing Naing Oo, secretary of the Myanmar Investment Commission told The Irrawaddy they had approved plans by the hoteliers to develop the 90-year-old building together with Thai and Myanmar partners.
“We’ve allowed the former [Police] Commissioner’s Office to become a Kempinski Hotel,” he said.
Franck Droin, general manager of the Kempinski Hotel in Naypyidaw, said the group signed a joint venture agreement with local firm Jewelry Luck Group Myanmar and Thailand’s Kanok Furtniture and Decoration last October.
“We will have a hotel in Yangon, it’s a now a bit early to talk in detail about that because a lot of work needs to be done, but it will open at the end of 2016 in Yangon. It’s a heritage building,” he said.
The privatization faces strong opposition from a group of Myanmar lawyers who want it returned to its former use as the Yangon Division Court.
The Myanmar Lawyers’ Network has been protesting the sale of judicial buildings in Pabedan Township since 2012, when the Division Court was shut down. The High Court building was also handed over to a private company.
Kyee Myint, a member of the organization, vowed to continue to block the development.
“We have demonstrated at the former Commissioner’s Office on Strand Road two times before. Now we just sued the [Rangoon Division] government [over the project],” he said.
Kempinski Group opened its first hotel, a $45 million luxury project, in Naypyidaw last August.
Photo / Flickr / Creative Commons / Draconian Rain
