Is casino coming to Ho Chi Minh City?
The Ho Tram Project last week officially opened its new office in Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital city.
According to the Vietnam Economic Times, the new office will handle sales and leasing for the company’s $4.2 billion Grand Ho Tram Strip resort, now in its second phase of development, and also “provide a base for ongoing liaison with the government.” The Grand, in Ba Ria-Vung Tau, now includes 541 hotel rooms, 10 restaurants and bars, a spa, three swimming pools, a casino and an award-winning golf course, the Bluffs.
The resort’s second tower will add another 559 rooms, a beachside condominium tower and a golf-course villa.
“Hanoi is an important market for us, both as a source of potential tourists, potential investors into our residential offering as people look for beachfront homes, and the base for the nation’s government. It is an honor then to be cutting the ribbon on this new office today,” said Michael Kelly, executive chairman of the Grand Ho Tram Strip. “This represents another milestone in our commitment to delivering on a truly world class entertainment destination to Vietnam.”
Phil Falcone of the Grand’s majority shareholder, Harbinger Capital, said he made his first investment in the resort a decade ago. “I had an instinct that Vietnam was quickly on the path to becoming one of the world’s premier destinations for inbound international investment and have seen the country’s promise firsthand. I am still as bullish today as I was a decade ago about Vietnam’s future and as an investor, I’m all in.”
According to GGRAsia, architect Paul Steelman, who designed the Grand Ho Tram, is among the U.S. investors in another $4 billion real estate project in Vietnam. Though it’s not yet known if the development has a casino component, the other investors include Bill Weidner, former president of the Las Vegas Sands Corp. Weidner’s firm, Global Gaming Asset Management LLC, was the first manager of Bloomberry Resorts Corp’s Solaire Resort and Casino in Manila in the Philippines when it opened in March 2013.
The third partner in the U.S.-based consortium is Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial institution that operates in over 30 major markets around the world. The Vietnamese partner in the project is IPP.
