June 5, 2020 - After a long-standing lawsuit was resolved this year, Arena Hospitality Group (AHG) has bought the Riviera Hotel in Pula from the Ministry of State Property.

“Following previous announcements, under the civil proceedings initiated by the Republic of Croatia against the Company for repossession of the facility and payment of the user fee, the Company received a decision of the Government of the Republic of Croatia expressing consent to enter into a settlement. The Company considered the proposed settlement and, on April 28, 2020, concluded a settlement with the Republic of Croatia," AHG said via the Zagreb Stock Exchange.

HRTurizam reports that the whole deal is worth 36.5 million kuna, and now that the ownership has been resolved, AHG plans to return this historic hotel to the old splendor and status it deserves. "The purchase resolves the ownership status of this historic hotel and represents an important step that enables the Company to start with plans to renovate the hotel," points out AHG.

The hotel will be transformed into a luxury, branded hotel with 80 rooms, the first in Croatia under the art’otel brand. Namely, these are art hotels and currently, five hotels from the Arena Hospitality Group operate under the art’otel brand in Hungary and Germany.

Each hotel exhibits a collection of original works designed or specially selected for each individual art’otel, making each of them a unique art gallery.

Riviera Hotel Pula enjoys an extremely convenient location, in an impressive neo-baroque building from the end of the 19th century. Namely, the Riviera Hotel was a favorite choice of the aristocracy during the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. It is the rich history of the Riviera Hotel that will be a great inspiration and link to the arts. However, as each art’otel is also associated with the promotion of art through art galleries and various events, indeed the new Riviera Hotel will have a much broader dimension for Pula as quality cultural content of the destination.

That is why art’otel has created its own niche in the world of hospitality, which is completely different from traditional hotels.

AHG is currently in an investment cycle of around HRK 500 million, which includes the repositioning of the Brioni hotel, which will be reopened in the summer of 2021, the renovation of the Verudela Beach resort and the final investment cycle in Arena Kažela Campsite.

Hotel Brioni will be repositioned into a luxury hotel with 227 rooms. The structure of the hotel will have seven floors which will include an indoor, outdoor and infinity pool, wellness center with saunas and relaxation rooms, gym, children's playground, snack bars, restaurant, meeting and conference rooms.

The company is also arranging the Verudela Beach resort. After the initial renovation of the first 10 accommodation units before the summer season of 2019, construction work began in October, which will completely renovate the remaining 146 units of the tourist resort. Verudela Beach will be the second renovated apartment complex of the Group (with Park Plaza Verudela Pula renovated in 2013), out of a total of four tourist resorts of the Group.

The Company will reposition the Yachtclub restaurant located on the Verudela peninsula, as well as the common areas and rooms in the Park Plaza Histria Pula hotel.

The group continues with the second phase of investing in Arena Kažela Campsite, which began in October. The first phase of the investment included 164 new luxury mobile homes, two new swimming pools, a reception desk, new modern poolside bars, the Illy coffee bar and animation facilities. The second phase of investments refers to the replacement of mobile homes, repositioning of plots by the sea (which will include the complete construction of infrastructure, and their average size will be 150 m2), renovation of public areas, restaurants, bars and sports center.

The investment will turn this camp into a modern 4-star camping resort, and upon completion, it will be renamed the Grand Kažela Arena.

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