Hotel Palace in Kaštel Stari, one of the oldest hotels in Central Dalmatia was built by dr. Petar Kamber in 1928. During the 7-year construction of this hotel, which was the pinnacle of his career, dr. Camber said: “The sea is our greatest treasure, and Kaštela are heaven on Earth. I will transform Kaštela into the French Riviera of our tourism”. For decades, it was one of the most representative hotels in Central Dalmatia and a favourite holiday spot for the European middle class. In the 80s, with the addition of the new wing, it turned to mass tourism, but since the numbers were good and the guests were arriving in their hundreds, no one was complaining. Today, this building is a constant reminder of how we perceive privatisation in Croatia.
Hotel Palace is one of the reasons why locals in Croatia are very weary when it comes to foreign investors, especially foreign investment funds. The agony of this hotel started in 2005 when it was purchased by Tulipan grupa. This company, according to their own website was founded in 2005 and their assignments in all projects are acquisition, project development, permits obtaining, financial analyses and consultancy, feasibility studies, sales, and marketing, legal services to interested clients, construction and expert supervision, site and property management. They also add that their goal is to realize projects which ensure client satisfaction while carefully planning and continuous monitoring the different stages of project development. Well worded, but when it comes to Hotel Palace, nothing could be further from the truth.
They paid 18 million kunas for 70% of shares of Kaštelanska Rivijera, a company that owned Hotel Palace at the time. Upon purchase, they also inherited the company’s 76 million kuna debt and all the creditors were paid. So far, so good. Their intention was to refurbish the main hotel building in accordance with the strict rules of the Conservation department since the building is a protected cultural heritage. The rest of the complex (two newer buildings) was to be demolished, which they did in 2009 and new objects were supposed to take their place. The entire project was supposed to be worth approximately 200 million kunas. But as soon as demolition works were completed, problems started. They wanted permissions for greater allowed lot coverage and wanted to build within the park which is a protected nature monument. The city of Kaštela even held an emergency assembly and changed the Master plan in order to give them the permitted lot coverage they wanted but the park was a no go (which investors later contributed to the eco-activists stating that they cannot believe the project was stopped because of a few trees). In the meantime, the investor concentrated on another project and Hotel Palace was left to rot.
Update: Please do Photolog until i fix this geocache.