“New era of luxury in Saipan”
The long-awaited Imperial Pacific Resort Hotel on the island of Saipan opened at last on July 6.
“This spectacular new casino is set to redefine luxury as part of Saipan’s exciting development into a world center of leisure and entertainment,” according to a statement from Imperial Pacific International Holdings of the complex in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S.-controlled territory in the South Pacific.
Eventually the resort will add 329 hotel suites and 15 deluxe villas plus restaurants, convention facilities and entertainment venues, with Phase I of development extended to August 2018.
Imperial Pacific’s temporary casino, Best Sunshine Live, which opened in 2015 and operated out of a luxury shopping mall, T-Galleria in Garapan, will now close.
The opening of the new permanent resort has been delayed multiple times by many factors including destruction caused by a typhoon; workplace fatalities; the illegal use of undocumented foreign workers; and, according to CalvinAyre.com, “some IPI subcontractors’ reluctance to pay their workers.” In June, Imperial Pacific raised some $6 million from a bond issue to help complete Phase I.
Governor Ralph Torres is glad to see the doors open. He told the Guam Daily Post, “We wanted this facility to open three to four months ago, but we also didn’t want to take any shortcuts in terms of standards and permits that needed to be secured in the right way. I’m happy that all the departments and agencies helped make things work and for making sure everything was done the right way.”
Finance Secretary Larrisa Larson said, “The shift to the bigger facility will only be profitable and good for the CNMI.” Since 2015, Imperial Pacific said, it has paid more than $200 million in taxes and fees and employed some 1,200 people.
“Imperial Pacific has committed to the development of world-class investment and high-end entertainment projects in Saipan,” said CEO Kwong Yiu Ling. The resort “is our first milestone and will definitely help to launch a new era of luxury in Saipan. We will be working very hard for the sustainable development and Saipan, will become one of the most desirable travel destinations in the world.”
Imperial Pacific holds an exclusive casino license on Saipan, the main island in the CNMI.
