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| Crescat joint managing directors
Viren Perera, left, and Nick Clayton show model
of Crescat property now being developed. |
| Photo by James Overly |
“Exotic” and “tropical paradise”
are two adjectives historically applied to this
unique country. They are not yet clichés;
to experience Sri Lanka is to renew one’s understanding
of these terms. Yet it takes imagination and a special
gift to combine the offerings of a tropical paradise
with high-end Western living and working standards
to satisfy the foreign visitor, businessman and
long-term resident.
Two people who supply the leadership to a property
development and management company in Sri Lanka seem
to have that gift. Viren Perera and Nick Clayton,
joint managing directors of Crescat Developments,
Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Asian Hotels Corporation,
are creating business space and residences in Colombo
that are “re-gentrifying” the city to world-class
standards. Their ambitious plans for the future add
to what are already the most highly desired residences
and business locations in Colombo.
In June 2002, Perera and Clayton were appointed as
joint managing directors of Crescat, with Thilan Wijesinghe,
former chairman of Sri Lanka’s Board of Investment,
providing strategic direction. In January 2003, the
team was appointed to run the affairs of the owning
company, Asian Hotels Corporation (AHC).
Asian Hotels effectively controls 40 percent of the
five-star rooms in Colombo through its ownership of
the Lanka Oberoi and management control of the Trans
Asia Hotel. Consequently, the group stands to benefit
most from the upturn in business and tourist arrivals
that have already mushroomed during the first year
of peace. But it is Crescat’s development in
1997 of an apartment tower, retail shopping mall and
car park created on the Hotel Lanka Oberoi property
that is inspiring the future direction of company.
Perera and Clayton say that the corporation will shift
from owning a portfolio of stand-alone, independently
run hotels and properties to become an integrated
property developer and manager. The strategy will
allow the properties to complement and reinforce each
other, enhancing the company’s revenue stream.
Accordingly, the company now aims to become Sri Lanka’s
“best property developer and manager,” with
the goal of creating “the pre-eminent destination
in Colombo to live, work, shop, dine, play and relax.”
Its projects will entail investments of about $100
million.
The design of the overall development is the product
of the top residence and business architect in the
world, WATG of Honolulu.
The company plans to rename and refurbish the Oberoi
hotel as soon as it takes over complete management
of the hotel at the end of March 2003. Crescat is
now discussing the provision of hotel management services
with some of the best American hotel managers, including
Marriott, Hyatt and Starwood.
To the condominium-hotel mix, Crescat will add a spa,
gymnasium and sports facilities, and smart shops and
restaurants, with additional car parking. The design
will incorporate green spaces and tropical flora to
suggest a healthy, tropical lifestyle. The spa-gym
complex will be designed to as a profit making operation,
but will be available to hotel and condominium residents
as well.
Perera and Clayton say that this concept is the first
of its kind in Colombo, and meets a developing need
of Colombo’s growing middle and upper classes.
The various Crescat properties that will become known
as “Crescat City” will offer five-star hotel
facilities, short and long-term residences that can
be rented or owned, some of the city’s smartest
shopping, and facilities for a healthy lifestyle.
The two joint managing directors say that the proven
success of their current stand-alone properties –
hotels, condominiums, shopping and parking –
make investments into an integrated living concept
even more promising. They hope to attract the interest
of Sri Lanka’s prosperous expatriate community
in the United States and Europe to invest in their
condominium and spa-gymnasium concepts. |
