Hind building boutique hotel chain

Hind Development, part of the group that once owned the former Imperial Hotel in the River Valley/Jalan Rumbia area, is starting a regional chain of boutique business hotels called Naumi.

First off will be a 40-room hotel at Seah Street in the Beach Road area. The property was formerly known as the Metropole Hotel, which Hind bought in April last year for $18 million.

Hind is spending $10 million sprucing up the 999-year leasehold property, taking its all-up investment to about $28 million or about $700,000 a room.

Hind Development managing director Surya Jhunjhnuwala estimates a 5-7 per cent net yield from the investment, assuming a conservative average occupancy rate of 75 per cent and average daily room rates of $300 to $350. The 10-storey hotel will open in July.

Mr Jhunjhnuwala said the group hopes to have a second Naumi hotel in Singapore - also in the Central Business District - next year and plans to introduce the brand to Hong Kong, Vietnam and Bangkok.

The group already operates three boutique serviced apartments in Hong Kong, with a fourth due to open by year-end.

It is also looking at a potential serviced apartment property in Singapore’s CBD, Mr Jhunjhnuwala said.

The group’s strategy is to buy smallish buildings and refurbish them into boutique serviced apartments or hotels - rather than develop hotels from scratch - because this offers a turnaround time of six to seven months, compared with at least two to two-and-a-half years for redevelopment.

Hind Development developed the Residences at 338a in River Valley Road and is open to embarking on similar projects in Singapore.

It chose the name Naumi for its boutique hotel chain after the ninth day of the lunar calendar, which is considered auspicious in Hinduism.

For the first Naumi hotel at Seah Street, all 40 rooms - most of which will be suites - will come with kitchenettes, work desk and a Cisco Unified Communications system to ensure Internet safety. There will be room in the suites for meetings.

While other boutique hotels in Singapore cater to a mix of guests, Naumi will aim primarily for corporate travellers.

Target markets are Europe, the United States, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia and Australia.

‘It will be like a personal pad in Singapore,’ says Sim Boon Yang, founding director of Eco-id Architecture and Design, the design architect for the property.

The hotel’s facade will have an origami screen structure that will act as a climbing frame for flowering creepers.

‘It will grow to be a geometric topiary, sustained by automated irrigation and hydroponic planting solution,’ Mr Sim said.

Source : Business Times - 11 Apr 2007