Lotte Group on Wednesday unveiled some glam factors to its proposed urban duty-free shop sites at the Lotte World Mall and the 123-story Lotte World Tower in Jamsil, southeastern Seoul.
“I can confirm that the name of the upscale hotel situated from 76-101th floor of Lotte World Tower is Signiel, to go along with Lotte’s premium department store brand Avenuel. The name of the top-notch condominiums for the superrich to be located on the 44th-71st floors will be the Signiel residence,” said Noh Byung-yong, CEO of Lotte Corporation.
The residents will include Lotte chairman Shin Dong-bin, who has decided to move into the penthouse, Noh said.
Inspired by the iconic Fountains of Bellagio interweaving music, light and water in front of the eponymous hotel in Las Vegas, the company also decided to create a music fountain. “Those who live in these condominiums or stay at the hotel will be able to listen to the music and watch the fountain show at night from their rooms,” Noh said.
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| Lotte Duty Free CEO Lee Hong-kyun talks to the press at the Lotte World Mall in Jamsil, southeastern Seoul, on Wednesday.Lotte Duty Free |
Lotte has two stores — the Jamsil branch and the Sogong-dong branch in central Seoul — whose special license for urban duty-free operation will expire by end of the year. The company is currently competing with other business conglomerates — Shinsegae, Doosan and SK — for the lucrative license. The winner is expected to be announced by the end of the year.
With a renewed license, the company expects the Jamsil store to generate 1.5 trillion won ($1.3 billion) in annual sales by 2020, creating 27,000 jobs and attracting 28 million shoppers in the next five years. In order to win the license, the company announced a 1.2 trillion won investment to create a tourism-shopping complex in the area to attract more than 4 million Chinese tourists who visit the adjacent Lotte World amusement park every year.
Lotte Duty Free on Wednesday admitted that losing the license could jeopardize the planned initial public offering of Hotel Lotte, the de facto holding company of the 90 trillion won Lotte Group.
“If we lose the license, the planned listing will be put on hold because 96 percent of Lotte Hotel’s operating profit of 407 billion won in 2014 was generated from the duty-free sales,” said Lee Hong-kyun, president of Lotte Duty Free.
“Even if we list the company, the value would be lower than expected, detrimental to our business. … I haven’t thought about losing,” he told the press.
