Bloomberry Resorts Corp. said it will complete an expansion of its Solaire Resort and Casino at Manila’s Entertainment City complex by the end of the year.
“We will more than double in size,” said Solaire President Thomas Arasi. “We increase hotel room inventory in excess of 60 percent and increase our VIP gaming area by more than two-thirds, with several restaurants, and a lot more meeting space.”
Non-gaming attractions included in the US$500 million build-out are 5,000 square meters of retail shopping, an 1,800-seat theater, a nightclub and a karaoke bar.
The former president of Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands says the opening of more resorts at Entertainment City will put the Philippines in the top five high-end integrated resort clusters in the world with Macau, Las Vegas and other destinations.
“When City of Dreams Manila opens, there will be of course short-term competition. But medium-term and long-term, the Philippines’ gaming market and the Entertainment City are going to be stronger, appeal to more people and have more products and services,” Arasi said.
Solaire opened last March as the first of four gaming resorts licensed to develop at Entertainment City, which is owned and regulated by the Philippine government.
Following City of Dreams—which is slated to open in the fourth quarter as a joint venture between Macau’s Melco Crown Entertainment and Belle Corp., a resort subsidiary of Philippines retail giant SM Group—Kazuo Okada’s Universal Entertainment is working on opening its Manila Bay Resorts in 2015 opening.
Travellers International Hotel Group, a partnership between the Philippines’ Allied Global and Genting Hong Kong, holds the fourth license and could open after 2016.
