A Macau-based investment group wants to build a resort casino on Tinian in the Northern Marianas islands.
The Saipan Tribune reports that Alter City Group Holdings, as the firm is known, is partnering with STJ Golden Island Investments on a US$300 million, 1,000-room resort whose plans call for a golf course, villas and other attractions. Alter City, which is incorporated in the Northern Marianas, a self-governing US commonwealth in the western Pacific north of Guam, has asked the government for a lease on 152 hectares of public land.
The Tinian government supports the application, the Tribune says, and has petitioned the commonwealth’s legislature for a quick approval of the lease.
STJ is affiliated HW Golden Island Holdings, a subsidiary of Taiwan construction giant Howarm. HW has proposed a number of resort-related investments on Tinian, and in 2012 was awarded a license by the Tinian Casino Gaming Control Commission in conjunction with a failed bid to buy the Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino, the commonwealth’s only casino. Tinian Dynasty, which has struggled financially, was taken over last year by Mega Stars Overseas Ltd., a Hong Kong group with Macau junket ties.
Marianas Stars Entertainment, a Mega Stars subsidiary also incorporated in the commonwealth, was the losing bidder for a license to develop a multibillion-dollar casino authorized earlier this year for the main island of Saipan, which to date has only hosted small-scale machine gaming and charitable games. The Saipan license was awarded to a company called Best Sunshine International, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed Imperial Pacific Holdings, whose portfolio also includes Macau junket investments.
