ECE has never before developed a hotel asset in Italy, but there is a first time for everything.
The Germany-based company, best known for retail property, is working on a listed office building in the middle of Rome, which will become a Ruby Hotel with 165 rooms.
The €60 mln development is being orchestrated under ECE’s “Work & Live” unit as the company said it was expanding development activities in the hospitality asset class to international markets as well as to the conversion of existing properties.
The conversion of a listed property from the early 19th century is a major change of use given it was used as an office building until recently.
It is not far from the main train station Roma Termini in the immediate vicinity of many tourist attractions. Initial demolition work for the project has already begun. Construction is scheduled to start in the autumn of 2023, with opening scheduled for spring 2025.
Hamburg-based ECE confirmed it was ECE Work & Live's first hotel development in Italy and the first joint project with the luxury hotel group Ruby Hotels, in which ECE’s founding Otto family holds a 25% stake.
Torsten Kuttig, director hotel development, said: ‘’Our first hotel project in Italy combines the main objectives of our strategy in the hotel segment: to expand our international activities and extend them to attractive markets such as Italy.’
ECE has already planned or realized numerous hotel projects with a total of 3,500 rooms in Germany and Austria - including two Motel One properties in Vienna, a Holiday Inn in Hamburg, and the Steigenberger Airport Hotel at Berlin-Brandenburg Airport.
In addition, the sister company ECE Real Estate Partners is managing the investment of the ECE European Lodging Recovery Fund in Italy in the ongoing modernization and repositioning of the Hotel Bonvecchiati in the heart of Venice.
