The Metropole Hotel used to be one of the most fashionable hotels in London. In Corinthia's hands, group chairman Alfred Pisani promises it will be among the best hotels in the city, rubbing shoulders with the Ritz and the Dorchester.
Mr Pisani knows he has set the Corinthia brand a tall order. It does not faze him. Ask him how he intends to achieve the extraordinary target and he quickly replies: "By being ourselves."
Earlier this month, International Hotel Investments, Corinthia Group's hotel development arm, announced that a syndicate led by Barclays, and including the Libyan Foreign Bank, the Arab Banking Corporation, and Bank of Valletta, had approved a £135 million loan for the acquisition and development of the Metropole. The amount matched the equity already raised by the developers, setting a 50-50 loan to equity gearing on the project.
The Metropole on Northumberland Avenue and the adjacent 10 Whitehall Place were acquired from the Crown Estate a year ago by a consortium owned equally by IHI and its two major shareholders, the Libyan Foreign Investment Company and Nakheel Hotels of Dubai.
Built in 1883, the Metropole, sitting on a triangular island site overlooking the Thames, was requisitioned by the Ministry of Defence in the 1930s and served as command quarters during major events, including the Falklands War. It was returned to the Crown in the 1990s.
Plans for the 300-room hotel include multi-level penthouse suites and terraces, a large central courtyard foyer, two clusters of restaurants, a destination bar, a restored ballroom and meeting facilities. Dublin-born architect David Collins, who has designed the interiors of such celebrity haunts as The Ivy and the Berkeley Hotel's Blue Bar in Knightsbridge, has been entrusted with the decor of the hotel's restaurants.
10 Whitehall Place is to be redeveloped to incorporate 12 luxury, hotel-serviced apartments - some measuring over a 1,000 square metres - and a 2,500-square metre spa operated by award-winning spa specialists Espa.
The target completion date for the entire €300 million project is October 10, 2010. The hotel will be fully operational in 2011.
It has taken Mr Pisani the best part of 45 years to realise a life-long ambition to open a Corinthia hotel in this major city. As he maps out the history of a carefully expanded business, it is obvious he believes the long route was worthwhile - and the best way to reach this milestone. Corinthia, he says, has proven itself.
"It is remarkable for us, a Maltese group run from Malta, to acquire this unique property in London," he says. "It is remarkable too, that this sort of capital was raised in the current climate. So far, we have been given a seal of approval - by the banks, the Crown Estate, the London planning authorities, and the property's neighbours. All stakeholders recognised the seriousness of our intentions. The declaration made by Barclays, particularly, was a vote of confidence in us.
"In reality, Corinthia Group is still a close-knit family business. Our greatest advantage is that all our partners have absolute trust in each other. This has tremendous value. In all these years, our operations have been straightforward and honest. That has earned us the reputation we enjoy today."
The roots of "all these years" lie in the restaurant Mr Pisani opened with four family members in Attard in December 1962. The Corinthia Palace Hotel now stands on the site. In 1974, Corinthia offloaded a 50 per cent stake of the company to Lafico of Libya, and the business ventured into industrial catering. The Mistra Village soon followed, then the five-star San Gorg and four-star Corinthia Marina in St Julian's. In the early 1990s, Corinthia set its sights on Turkey where it has stakes in three resort hotels and fully owns two others.
The experience gained in developing and operating largely seasonal resort hotels stood one of Malta's handful of multinationals in good stead. It was time to up the stakes and move into cities in emerging markets - eastern Europe and Libya beckoned. Magnificent hotels in Prague, Budapest and Tripoli opened flying the Corinthia flag. An equally magnificent Corinthia in St Petersburg is to be inaugurated on May 25.
"In these cities, we were able to gain advantage in price and positioning comfortably," Mr Pisani explains. "It was our strategy to make the Corinthia brand more recognisable. Now it is time for Corinthia to be present in a major city. The Corinthia Hotel London will be our flagship property."
In September 2007 - four months after City diarists got wind that agent CB Richard Ellis Hotels was dispatching brochures to potential buyers - 27 international companies bid for the Metropole. IHI made it to the final shortlist of five, putting in the ninth best offer, and beat some of the best known names in the business to clinch the deal.
"We are developers, owners and operators - that was in our favour," Mr Pisani pointed out. "We were considered to be the wholesome tenderer, so to speak. Ours was probably the least contentious tender as we were fully prepared to meet the condition which required the property to be reopened as a hotel and development was to be within its confines. We are committed to the site's heritage."
Soon after the sale of the freehold was closed, IHI approached the 13-member committee representing occupants of neighbouring properties in Whitehall to hold a "sensible discussion" about its plans. Mr Pisani and the team of architects gave presentations and a clear understanding was cemented - no objections were registered. The application for planning permission was filed with Westminster City Council in August. It was granted in "record time" - within 10 weeks in mid-October.
The pre-construction phase is well underway, with the demolition of unnecessary structures within the triangular courtyard and laborious asbestos removal from the entire building already complete. Construction will take around 18 months. Mr Pisani says 300 members of staff will be required in London when the hotel is ready for opening. Corinthia employees "who think a little differently" and who are ready to meet ever rising standards will be members of the team.
There is a combined energy within Corinthia over the London project and Mr Pisani says attention to detail is at hand from everyone, a passion that is difficult to generate in larger corporations.
He concedes that the international economic climate has presented the group with an opportunity: interest rates on loans are attractive and the timing is convenient.
Corinthia's operations currently employ 5,000 people in Malta and overseas. Mr Pisani believes that this summer will not be bad as many predict - there has been a drop in guest numbers but not one that he describes as drastic.
"Occupancy in Libya has been outstanding," he says. "In Europe, the hotels are down about 10 to 18 per cent, but we are seeing the slowdown lessen. Let us wait until July. Time will tell.
"The climate is an opportunity for everyone to be more efficient and flexible, to modify their work ethic. We have trimmed some costs without affecting service."
And after London?
"New York, Paris, Rome..." he smiles.