See other War, War, War Articles
Title: Planners Dream of Five Star Hotel for Green Zone
Source:
[None]
URL Source: [None]
Published: May 7, 2008
Author: wired
Post Date: 2008-05-07 17:44:15 by tom007
Keywords: None
Views: 74
Comments: 2
Planners Dream of Five Star Hotel for Green Zone By Sharon Weinberger EmailMay 05, 2008 | 8:19:40 AMCategories: Cash Rules Everything Around Me MarriottNo sewer system, no power, no problem. U.S. officials in Iraq are thinking ahead about how to create a "high-end buffer" zone around the highly protected U.S. embassy, the AP reports. At the top of the list: a five-star hotel. When you have $1 billion hanging out there and 1,000 employees lying around, you kind of want to know who your neighbors are. You want to influence what happens in your neighborhood over time," said Navy Capt. Thomas Karnowski, who led the team that created the development plan. Karnowski said a deal already has been completed for Marriott International Inc. to build a hotel in the Green Zone. He also said a possible $1 billion investment could come from MBI International, a conglomerate that focuses on hotels and resorts and is led by Saudi Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber. Elizabeth Caminiti, a Marriott spokeswoman, declined to comment. Phone calls and e-mails sent to London-based MBI were not returned. For the moment, however, it's mortars and rockets — not investment money — pouring into the Green Zone, which includes the U.S. and British embassies, key Iraqi government offices and other international compounds. Militants have escalated their shelling of the enclave since Iraqi forces began a crackdown on Shiite militias in late March. But developers are clearly looking many years ahead and gambling that Baghdad could one day join the list of former war zones such as Sarajevo and Beirut that have rebounded and earned big paydays for early investors. Even now — with violence in Baghdad again creeping up — the faint hints of the development plan have driven up the Green Zone's already sky-high real estate prices. Land that a few years ago was going for $60 a square meter on 50-year leases in the zone is now going for up to $1,000 a square meter, American officials say. Last week, a Los Angeles-based holding company for equity firms, C3, confirmed it was starting a $500 million project to build an amusement park on the outskirts of the Green Zone in an area encompassing the Baghdad Zoo. The first phase, a skateboard park, is scheduled to open this summer. This project reminds of me post-war announcements about Northwest airlines planning to start flights to Baghdad (from Detroit). Needless to say, it hasn't happened, yet.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: All (#0)
Well we didn't more proof, but here it is.
"Satan / Cheney in "08" And just think what a bargain this is! At least two trillion U.S. dollars. (they aren't worth so much these days any way) and over a million dead. /sarc The Iraqis will be exploding with joy! I figure there'll be bombs bursting in air and a lot of other interesting night time activities.
Our citizens do not deserve a President as good as Dr. Ron Paul. What we deserve is higher taxes, more government inefficiency, war, regulations and devalued currency.(me) "I am further of opinion that it would be better for us to have [no laws] at all than to have them in so prodigious numbers as we have." "I'm pro-choice.........on light bulbs!"
#2. To: tom007, all (#1)
Planners Dream of Five Star Hotel for Green Zone
Michel Eyquem, seigneur de Montaigne (1533–1592)
Joseph Farah (2008)
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest