Park Hotel losses estimated at $500M New Thriving to rebuild By Gitanjali Singh Stabroek News May 8, 2000 The loss sustained by the Kissoon business group from the Saturday afternoon fire which ruined most of the Park Hotel is close to $500M while the owner of the New Thriving Restaurant lost a US$0.5M (approximately $92M) investment. Reconstructing the hotel will cost closer to G$1.5B, Hemraj Kissoon, Managing Director of the Kissoon Group estimated yesterday but a decision has not been taken as yet. "I have to take a holiday and when I fully recover from this shock, the family will sit and decide what to do," Lyla Kissoon, the matriarch of the Kissoon family and chairman of the Kissoon Group declared yesterday. However, Mrs Kissoon - who recently celebrated her 70th birthday - said the issue will not be left dormant for too long. Speaking with Stabroek News at her Main Street home yesterday, Mrs Kissoon said she is looking at the fire as just another hardship her family has had to go through and intends to forget about it and start again. The family's furniture factory at Ruimveldt was also razed in the 1970s and had to be rebuilt. "God gives and God takes and life has to go on," she said, even as a lone fire-fighter continued to pour water on the southern wing of the hotel yesterday morning. Her husband Hemraj Kissoon said the hotel was adequately insured for around $400M but the New Thriving Restaurant was only insured for G$50M. The staff of the restaurant told Stabroek News yesterday they were not alerted to the fire and could have saved at least half of their items and minimise their losses. But the Kissoons did not just lose a hotel. They lost out on a lucrative deal under which management of the hotel would have been taken over by the owners of New Thriving. Mr & Mrs Xia Guang Zhao, on May 1st signed an agreement with the Kissoon Group to take over the management of the hotel from June 1 at a monthly lease fee of US$25,000 for the next eight years. This is in addition to the five-year lease (since November 1997) at US$5,000 per month for the space for the New Thriving Restaurant. The owners had proposed to spend another US$0.5M to upgrade and take over the management of the Park Hotel. The New Thriving Restaurant owners have also leased the Cambridge office complex on Main Street from the Kissoons and are currently looking for a place on Main Street to lease or buy to continue their business. Mrs Guang Zhao indicated that they had liked the Park Hotel and would prefer to remain at that spot. Speaking with Stabroek News yesterday in the presence of her staff, Assistant Manager Stephen Liu and supervisor Ravi Chand, Mrs Guang Zhao indicated that if all goes well and the Kissoons decide to rebuild the hotel, it should only be a matter of months before the restaurant is thriving in the area again. Looking for clues Fire Chief Tulsi John (centre) listening attentively to one of his officers yesterday as they searched the rubble for clues to the origin of Saturday's fire which destroyed the Park Hotel and the New Thriving restaurant. (Ken Moore photo) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- But in the interim, the Chinese nationals are contemplating the use of the Cambridge, which is opposite the gutted Park Hotel on Main Street and will in another month be opening another chinese fast food restaurant at Camp Street & Brickdam. The 90 staffers of New Thriving will be kept until the business gets back on track and the Kissoon Group will try to absorb the 45 hotel employees into its current structure. Meanwhile, Hemraj Kissoon has indicated that the macroeconomic and political climate in Guyana will play a major role when the family decides what to do about the Park Hotel which is one of Guyana's oldest. The hotel was constructed around 1889 with 30 rooms and became the property of the Kissoon family in the early 1970s. It was then extended to a 90-room hotel. He expressed his disillusionment with how his family's business was treated by politicians over the years and remembers real estate properties which were virtually taken away including Echilibar Villas, Takuba Lodge, the Hope Coconut Estate and a property in Charlotte Street. He said that the family will have to consider its options carefully. However, Hemraj Kissoon did indicate that his family does not sell land ruling out the option of vending the premises on which the Park Hotel stood. But leasing the area could be an option and rebuilding will depend on the policy the government adopts on such an investment. The net worth of the Kissoon Group is estimated by Kissoon to be about $5B with subsidiaries such as Unisoon, the house construction company; Modern Industries, the furniture and foam company; A.H. and L Kissoon Limited and the Abary Cattle Ranch Company Limited. The Group also has real estate and financial investments. Family members were yesterday full of praise for the quick response by the police, the fire department, Mazda Security Service and public spirited citizens in the wake of the conflagration. Asha Kissoon, the daughter of Lyla and Hemraj Kissoon expressed her family's gratitude and is also asking guests who were staying at the hotel and have queries to contact A.H. and L Kissoon at Camp & Robb Streets or phone 71935, 50045 or 60967. She has already forwarded a list of guests at the hotel to the police to start working on immigration papers for those who lost theirs in the fire. The fire destroyed the Bentick Wing and the Rosemary Wing, leaving one storey of the Martin wing still standing and undamaged. The second floor was damaged by the fire and the ground floor is waterlogged. Fire Chief, Tulsi John and his investigators are today scheduled to meet with workers of the hotel to discuss the origin of the fire.