GGRAsia – Macau Legend to rejig plan for new wharfside hotel: CEO

Macau Legend to rejig plan for new wharfside hotel: CEO

Jun 19, 2020 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

The chief executive of casino services and hotel-operating firm Macau Legend Development Ltd says it is to redesign a planned project called Legendale Hotel for its waterside gaming and tourism complex Macau Fisherman’s Wharf.

“We are redesigning the build plan for it now,” Melinda Chan Mei Yi told GGRAsia on the sidelines of her company’s annual general meeting.

Macau Fisherman’s Wharf (pictured in a file photo) currently has two gaming venues: Babylon Casino, which has no hotel; and Legend Palace Casino, inside the Legend Palace Hotel which is developed and run by the company. Both gaming venues operate under the licence of SJM Holdings Ltd, under so-called service agreements.

Macau Legend has not clarified whether it would seek to have a casino at Legendale Hotel once it is built. Macau Fisherman’s Wharf already has two other non-gaming hotels: the three-star, 72-room Rocks Hotel, closed since February 9, and currently undergoing renovations; and the Harbourview Hotel, with 389 rooms and 55 suites. The catering services at Rocks Hotel might be the first thing to be relaunched, possibly in July, the CEO said.

Ms Chan told GGRAsia she hoped a redesign for the Legendale Hotel would be ready “soon”. The site for the planned hotel is part of Macau Fisherman’s Wharf, and is near to Sands China Ltd’s downtown casino hotel Sands Macao.

“We hope that the plan can be viewed by the [local] media first, and I can explain all the technical aspects involved… before we submit it to the government,” for approval, she added.

The firm had initially proposed that the Legendale Hotel should be 90 metres (295 feet) high, which stirred public discussion on the scheme’s suitability for that waterside area.

“Of course we would want to have it designed in such a way that our shareholders’ profits could be maximised,” while ensuring the project was “legally compliant,” Ms Chan remarked.

Asked whether the revamped plan would include a casino, she said only: “We are maintaining the existing gaming inventory at Macau Fisherman’s Wharf. And in future whether or not we should have more gaming elements, I’ll seek our shareholders’ thoughts on this issue.”

The two existing casinos at the site had an aggregate of 112 gaming tables as of December 31, according to information disclosed in the firm’s 2019 annual report.

Other current changes at Macau Fisherman’s Wharf include a revamp of its conference and exhibition centre. It should be ready to host events next month, albeit in a market currently with barely any tourists.

Due to Covid-19, Macau Legend had delayed the opening of some new retail outlets due to be added at Macau Fisherman’s Wharf, said Ms Chan.

“Up to now we haven’t seen any shops leaving our complex, except for those that saw their leases expire,” she noted, adding the company hoped to add fresh retail and catering elements to Legend Palace and to a covered outdoor walkway at Macau Fisherman’s Wharf – called Legend Boulevard – in order to increase the site’s appeal once visitors return to Macau.