South Korea's Lotte Hotels & Resorts is being considered for the Iconic Tower project in the new city of Alatau, as announced at a city council meeting chaired by Kazakh Prime Minister Oljas Bektenov, according to infohub.kz.
Iconic Towers was previously announced as the first and tallest skyscraper in Alatau. At the current stage, private investment in the 80-story, 272-meter complex exceeds $800 million. The facility is scheduled to be commissioned by the end of 2029.
The complex will consist of two towers of different heights on a common three-story podium. The 80-story tower will house a five-star international hotel (possibly where Lotte will lend its expertise), while the second, 56-story tower will contain Class A offices and apartments. The total area of the complex will be 276,800 square meters, of which 58,000 square meters will be occupied by cultural spaces and a shopping and entertainment center.
The key developer and development manager of the project is China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC). The building's design was developed by British architectural firm Zaha Hadid Architects and American company Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM).
The executive committee for the Iconic Tower project includes Wong Hean Fine, chief adviser to the President of Kazakhstan on Alatau City design; Yuri Tskhay, chairman of the board of directors of Caspian Group (72nd in the Forbes ranking of richest Kazakhs with a fortune of $100 million); Vyacheslav Kim, sole shareholder of Alatau City Bank and co-owner of Kaspi.kz (first in the list of richest Kazakhs with $7.1 billion); and Gao Bo, chairman of CSCEC International.
Lotte's interest in the region is not limited to the Alatau project. Earlier, the Development Bank of Kazakhstan reported considering an application from Sensata Invest (owned by Tasbolat Abdullin and Askar Duisenbayev) to finance the construction and launch of a Lotte hotel in Almaty.
Lotte Hotels & Resorts is the largest luxury hotel chain in South Korea, operating since 1972. The company manages hotels in South Korea, Vietnam, Japan, Uzbekistan, Myanmar, the United States, and Russia.