February 20th, 2022 - The new hotel should have 150 rooms and suites, as well as a residential part with 115 apartments that will make up a 'mini city' complete with restaurants, bars and shops

It’s been a long time coming, but it seems that construction works are finally about to begin on the old Maraska building in Zadar. The former factory is to be transformed into a high-category Hotel Hyatt with an addition of a residential area, owned by the Turkish Dogus Group.

As reported by Slobodna Dalmacija, a source from the Dogus Group said that cleanup works are underway on the grounds of the old building, to be followed by securing the structure which is in extremely poor condition.

‘Seeing that the structure is really old and neglected, we’ll have to secure it first, and then, in ten days or so, we’ll have an official opening of the construction site where all Zadar media will be invited’, said the source, adding that everyone at the Dogus Group is looking forward to construction kicking off.

‘We’re very pleased to finally be able to announce we’re moving forward! Starting from today, there’ll be no more waiting or holdups, and we hope we’ll soon make the people of Zadar proud with the new hotel which will surely stimulate tourism on a higher level’, said the source. 

The investment is worth €120 million, and the hotel should have around 150 rooms and suites, a spa, a wellness centre, a conference hall, restaurants and bars. The development will also have a residential area with 115 apartments making up a ‘mini city’ together with restaurants, bars, shops and other attractive facilities.

Construction of the new hotel was originally supposed to begin in 2016, but was delayed due to complications in the development of the other part of the hotel complex. The Dogus Group together with Hyatt had to wait for the situation to clear up in regards to urban planning in the area around the hotel. They’re participating in the tender for Marina Zadar, and it remains to be seen if they managed to resolve the matter.

Hyatt Zadar - Dogus Group

The Dogus Group is one of the bigger foreign investors in Croatia, namely in nautical facilities in Šibenik, Sukošan and Zadar. Representatives of the Croatian subsidiary of the Turkish group have stated once before that the company invested around 270 million euro in Croatian tourism in the ten years they’ve been doing business in Croatia.

In mid-2019, the company Crodux, formerly owned by Tankerkomerc, announced its intention to build a large development near the Maraska building, namely in the area from the Tankerkomerc administrative building to the marina of the same name. This Dogus group has confirmed this as one of the reasons for the delays in the Maraska project.

At one point, Dogus also planned to take partial ownership of Tankeromerc and merge the Maraska Hotel project with Marina Zadar, but the pre-bankruptcy settlement fell through once it turned out that Tankerkomerc wasn’t a confirmed future concessionaire of the marina and that the story was far from over.

The state will soon take possession of Marina Zadar, based on a final judgement in their dispute with Tankerkomerc that was launched about ten years ago.

Tankerkomerc believes that it should be the owner of the marina on the basis of many years of ownership, operation and investments in the facility, and the state disputes this because the marina is considered to be maritime property.

According to the latest verdict from January 2020, the marina should have been returned to the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, but Tankerkomerc, which was taken over by General Ivan Čermak in the meantime, filed an appeal that has since been resolved in favour of the Ministry.

Tankerkomerc also has a dispute with the state concerning the return on their investments in the marina in the amount of €40 million.

Turkish company Dogus Group has sold its shares in Croatia’s ACI marina chain to pension funds. The company confirmed that it had sold 10.87 per cent of ACI to pensions funds, namely, the AZ category B mandatory pension fund, the AZ Profit voluntary pension fund, and PBZ Croatia Osiguranje, reports Jutarnji List on March 30, 2019.

“We are proud of the fact that we, along with the owner, the Republic of Croatia, were the second largest shareholder of this valuable strategically-important company. D-Marin Group, the global network of marinas which operates as part of the Dogus Group, has recently been growing and expanding its business network, and we had acquisition bids for the ACI shares for some time. We believe that this valuable asset will be in good hands,” announced Dogus.

They added that the sale of shares in ACI was in no way a confirmation of the rumours about Dogus' sale of assets in Croatia, but just the opposite. Namely, late last year rumours emerged that the well-known group, due to the economic crisis in Turkey, was forced to sell off property, including real estate and businesses in Croatia, but the Dogus quickly denied the rumours, claiming they were not leaving Croatia nor were they selling Villa Dubrovnik, which was in the focus of the speculation.

Dogus announced that the sale of ACI shares would strengthen their position and that they remain dedicated to all their companies and the further improvement of their business results. Also, they have confirmed that their Maraska Hotel project in Zadar, which has been paused for a while, will soon be implemented.

“Although at this point, we cannot announce the specific date given that we are on the eve of the tourist season, we are close to the beginning of the works, and we are currently drafting certain project changes, primarily related to the residential zone," said Dogus.

In late 2018, the media reported that Maraska Hotel would be the first Dogus investment in Croatia after the group completes the restructuring process in Turkey, but it is still uncertain whether their partner will be the Hyatt hotel brand or whether they will look for an alternative.

Translated from Jutarnji List (reported by Dora Koretić).

More news about Dogus Group can be found in the Business section.

According to unofficial information, the Maraska Hotel in Zadar will be the first new investment of the Dogus Group in Croatia after the company completes the restructuring process which has started in Turkey, but it is still uncertain whether their partner will be the famous Hyatt hotel brand as previously announced or will investors eventually have to look for an alternative, reports Jutarnji List on November 1, 2018.

The hotel operator decided to enter the Maraska hotel project due to the fact that the Turkish investor planned to complete it with the purchase of a marina. However, as the four-year bidding process for the marina is not coming to an end, it is likely that the Dogus Group will have to inform Hyatt about changes to the plans.

“There are few people in Dogus who believe that the marina will be sold to them, although the Turkish offer was the highest. However, even if there is no marina, the company will proceed with the construction of the hotel after the restructuring is over. It seems likely that the entire project will have to be changed somewhat, so it is now necessary to see whether Hyatt will agree to another version of the concept,” say sources close to the investors who still believe that the hotel operator will accept a slightly modified project.

All permits to start construction works on Maraska have been prepared, but the group has decided there would be no significant investments until the restructuring of the company in Turkey is completed. Dogus Group is negotiating with banks on repayment terms for loans that are mostly contracted in foreign currencies. If the negotiations are concluded by the end of the year as expected, the first official information on plans for Croatia will be announced at the time. Speculation which has emerged in the media over the past few weeks – that Dogus is selling property in Croatia – has been officially denied.

How will the restructuring of the group in Turkey affect its business in Croatia will also depend on the conditions which banks will impose on Dogus. The company has invested 250 million kuna in Croatia since 2009 and employs 350 workers. It owns D-Marin Mandalina in Šibenik, D-Marin Dalmacija in Sukošan, and D-Marin Borik in Zadar. The company's portfolio also includes the D-Resort hotel in Šibenik and the exclusive boutique hotel Villa Dubrovnik. The hotel operations were supposed to be expanded with the Maraska hotel in Zadar, which was initially expected to open its doors in summer 2019.

Contracts with constriction companies were ready to be signed, but since the decision about the marina was delayed, the works have not yet started. The most likely new deadline for the opening of the Maraska hotel is now summer 2021.

Additionally, Dogus Group started the reconstruction of the Borik marina in mid-January, an investment totalling two million euro.

For more news about investments of Dogus Group in Croatia, click here.

ZAGREB, May 28, 2018 - Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Monday received representatives of Dogus Group and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) who informed him about a joint capital investment worth approximately 70 million euro, earmarked for the development of marinas in Croatia, Turkey and Greece, the Croatian government's public relations office said in a press release.

ZAGREB, May 23, 2018 - Turkey's Dogus Group is hosting two TP52 Super Series regattas in its marinas in Croatia this month and in late June.

Ermanno Zanini talks about Dogus Group plans and reveals that they're already planning to enter new destinations on our market.

New facilities such as pool, restaurant, shops and park will be built within the existing concession area.

Dogus Group alone has so far invested 250 million euros.

They are also looking into marina Zadar, a Split hotel and opening the Nusr-Et restaurant chain in Zagreb

The owner of the Turkish Dogus Group has confirmed the hotel chain brand will open its first hotel in Croatia in the renovated Maraska factory