Melco Crown Entertainment has raised its planned investment in City of Dreams Manila to US0 million, and the figure could go higher as more major brands join as partners.
Speaking in Manila at a ceremony to announce that high-end hospitality brand Nobu will be opening a hotel at the resort, Melco co-Chairman and Chief Executive Lawrence Ho said of the company’s financial commitment, “It keeps going up. Our most recent number is $680 million because PAGCOR will allow us more [gaming] tables, and we keep finding great brands.”
PAGCOR, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, is the government regulator sponsoring the site on Manila Bay where City of Dreams is under construction. Four gaming resorts have been licensed for the site, known as Entertainment City. The first, Solaire Resort and Casino, opened last March.
City of Dreams Manila will be the second. A joint venture between Belle Corp., a subsidiary of Philippine retail giant SM, and a Philippine-listed subsidiary of Melco, the resort is slated to open this summer with 1,680 slot machines, 365 table games, three luxury hotels and an array of dining, shopping and entertainment attractions, including the largest nightclub in the city. Total cost is pegged at US$1.3 billion.
The 321-room Nobu will be the first hotel in Asia for the vaunted U.S. group, and the ceremony was attended by celebrity chef Nobuyuki “Nobu” Matsuhisa, the company’s namesake, and his partner, Hollywood film star Robert De Niro. The first U.S. Nobu hotel was opened at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas last year. Other Nobu hotels are planned for London, Bahrain and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“This is a bet on the Philippines and it is a bet on China,” said Australian gaming tycoon and Melco Crown co-Chairman James Packer, whose Crown Resorts is Ho’s partner in Melco Crown. “We really need it to work for the people of Manila and to also be an attraction that is good enough to get the Chinese market to come here and have fun.”
Trevor Horwell, chief executive of Nobu Hospitality, promised the hotel “will bring a new level of luxury, celebrity culture and sophistication together with outstanding Nobu-inspired cuisine to the Manila leisure destination scene”.
Ho described the partnership as “a further step in realizing our overall vision to deliver world-class and diverse innovative lifestyle and entertainment to broaden the appeal of the Philippines as a leading leisure destination in Asia.”
