Hines To Manage Luxury Spanish Resort Project

MARBELLA, SPAIN-Through its local office, Houston real estate firm Hines has secured an assignment as development manager for a resort project operated by the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. Construction is slated to begin next year, with a completion anticipated by 2010.

Mandarin Group chief executive Edouard Ettedgui calls Marbella “one of the Mediterranean’s foremost leisure destinations,” a notion shared by the project’s chief developer, Habib Bou-Habib, chairman of Las Colinas de Marbella SA. “For many decades, the area has been a magnet for sophisticated travelers, and the extraordinary facilities that this development will offer will appeal to those in search of tranquility, serenity and luxury,” says Bou-Habib.

The 153-room hotel is to be situated next to a protected environmental area that affords natural views of the Mediterranean and the Rock of Gibraltar. The resort is a short drive to historic Marbella, and also will give visitors proximity to such famous Spanish communities as Seville, Granada and Ronda. The development will feature 15 villas and 40 upscale apartments to be branded and managed as the Residences at Mandarin Oriental.