Dubai Getting 220-Room Luxury Starwood Hotel

DUBAI, UAE-Starwood Properties & Resorts Worldwide is planning a 220-room luxury hotel under the St. Regis brand to open here in 2012. The St. Regis Dubai will be part of the mixed-use Starhill Towers & Gallery, a 1.6-million-sf project in the city’s burgeoning Business Bay area.

Included in the hotel are three restaurants, two bars, a fitness center, a swimming pool, shops and 4,500 sf of meeting space. An 80-room portion of the hotel will be dubbed St. Regis Residences, featuring one-, two- and three-bedroom configurations.

This is not Starwood’s first venture into Dubai. The company operates 15 hotels in the city under the Sheraton, Le Meridien and Westin names. It will open its first W-branded hotel here in 2010.

Starhill Towers is being developed by locally based ETA Star Property Developers LLC, which has 30 million sf under development in the United Arab Emirates, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Turkey. Its Starhill project is set to begin coming online in 2010 and will include a 28-story office tower, shopping mall and residences.

Dubai’s Business Bay is a 64-million-sf multi-use area planned by Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashed Al Maktoum and developed by Dubai Properties LLC. The area is next to Downtown Dubai and projects are planned to start opening in 2010.