Photo via Carlos Celdran
Last Sunday, Manila icon Carlos Celdran posted a photo on his Instagram account: “The scaffold is down! Welcome back Luneta Hotel. Can’t wait to have coffee in your lobby!” And that got Coconuts Manila extremely curious. When will the hotel reopen? Who owns it? Really? Is Luneta Hotel back at it again?
We called Celdran to ask and he said the guards didn’t share details. “Some say it’s owned by Singaporeans, some say it’s owned by Pagcor, others say it’s owned by Napoles,” he says poking a joke. A simple Google search reveals that Beaumont Holdings is the new owner of Luneta Hotel. In 2007, it announced its plans to restore the then-89-year-old building back to its heydays in three years’ time. We googled Beaumont Holdings and the nearest piece of information we could get our hands on is a listing of a certain Beaumont Holding Corporation in philippinecompanies.com.
In 2011, popular blog chuvaness.com posted a story on Luneta Hotel, with one of the many photos revealing a tarpaulin of G.O. Eastern Construction. We called them up. They mentioned having done “retro fitting and structural work” for the project two years ago.
According to the National Heritage Commission, the new owners of the hotel sought their assistance and approval in 2010. Last year, the NHC inspected the construction and “they’ve been faithful to the mandate of preserving the structure,” Architect Reynaldo Lita of NHC tells Coconuts Manila over the telephone. They referred us to Gloria Teodoro, Mapua Institute of Technology’s dean for Architecture, but she was unavailable for comment. It’s already 2013, six years since the announcement and double the promised time of delivery but hey, we’ll take it. The original structure, designed by Spanish architect-engineer Salvador Farre and completed in 1918, is the only remaining building reminiscent of French Renaissance architecture in the country. One can only hope the long wait will be worth it.
For those who can’t wait any longer and need to scratch that Manila itch, popular tour guide Carlos Celdran has his Intramuros Walking Tour on all remaining weekends of September, from 3pm to 6pm. If the weather permits, the tour will make its way from Fort Santiago to San Agustin Church. If it rains, the tour will remain within the confines of Fort Santiago. And sorry, no, the Luneta Hotel is not part of the tour.
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