'Ground breaking' of Palazzo Versace Dubai celebrated

Dr Santo Versace and Soheil and Sahba Abedian celebrate the start of construction of the Palazzo Versace Hotel and Condominiums in Dubai with Cindy Crawford as guest MC

Dubai - May 12, 2007: Emirates Sunland Group (ESG) celebrated the start of construction of the Palazzo Versace Hotel and Condominiums in Dubai last night at a star-studded event at Mina A'Salam.

Dr Santo Versace, President of the House of Versace, and Cindy Crawford, world-famous supermodel were present at the event, along with Sabha Abedian, Managing Director of Sunland Group, and Soheil Abedian, Founding Director of Sunland Group and Managing Director of Emirates Sunland Group - the company behind the Palazzo Versace development.

Sheikh Tariq bin Faisal Al Qassimi, a member of the Ruling Family of the Emirate of Sharjah and Chairman of ESG was also in attendance as a special guest.

Centre stage at the event was the newly unveiled replica model of Palazzo Versace Dubai, which includes the entire Culture Village precinct, Dubai Creek Club and Festival City.

A number of Gianni Versace's original dresses designed for operas were specially flown over from Milan for the gala evening. These dresses are part of the Versace Retrospective Museum and this was the first time they had ever been displayed in the Middle East.

"Palazzo Versace is the world's first fashion-branded hotel, so hosting such an event is a fitting tribute to the pioneering name of Versace," said Soheil Abedian. "Tonight has allowed everyone attending to experience the heritage of the luxury brand and we have been very honoured to be joined by Sheikh Tariq Al Qassimi, Dr Santo Versace and, of course, Cindy Crawford. We are very excited that construction is now underway on the Palazzo Versace Dubai project and are hugely confident that its innate design beauty will entice visitors from all over the world when it opens its doors in 2009."

Giancarlo Di Risio, CEO of the Versace Group said, "This is an exciting project for the House of Versace, and wholly in keeping with the pioneering spirit of its founder, Gianni Versace. He was a true visionary and blurred the boundaries between fashion and interior design. The inaugural Palazzo Versace on Australia's Gold Coast was the first fashion-branded hotel. Now it is joined by Palazzo Versace Dubai. I am sure that it will prove to be a huge success."

Palazzo Versace Dubai is a landmark project of the new Culture Village master development on the Dubai Creek, a premium waterfront location with unobstructed views of the Creek.

Construction is now underway on the 130,000 square meter site upon which Palazzo Versace Dubai is being developed. When complete it will include 215 suites, restaurants, and a day spa, all of which will be furnished with an exclusive line of products from the Versace Home Collection. Suites range in size from 55sqm to 1200sqm for an Imperial Suite, of which there are two.

In addition, there are 169 exclusive condominium residences being developed as part of the luxury resort, of which 50% of has been sold prior to release.

Sunland's expansion into the UAE followed the Group's 49% sale of Palazzo Versace Gold Coast which settled on August 29, 2005. The 49% shareholding of the hotel is now held by Emirates International Group (Australia), a company associated with Gulf Resources, based in Dubai, UAE.

Emirates Sunland is a joint venture between Sunland Group Australia and Emirates International.

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Chris Whyatt
SAHARA Group
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chris@saharagcc.com