The US-based SB Architects group has been selected by Swiss developer Orascom Development Holding (AG) - (ODHN.CA) for the first phase of its €1.1 billion ($1.38 billion) Lustica Bay luxury resort community on an island in Montenegro, in the first recent sign that the project is going ahead. The project, Lustica Bay Marina Village, is the first phase of the resort, located near the coastal town of Tivat at the mouth of the Kotor Bay, which has been in hiatus for nearly three years since inception, waiting for local planning permission. It is designed to have 190 residences, a 60-room boutique hotel with shops and restaurants, yacht club and marina, marine biology institute, and a restaurant in a waterfront cave. The multi-phased resort will include seven hotels with 2,200 rooms, 1,600 apartments, 750 villas, a mixed-use village with retail, school and medical clinic, two marinas, a conference centre, and Montenegro's largest 18-hole golf course. According to Property Investor Europe Magazine, the site preparation began in February, with construction scheduled to start in early 2013, Orascom says. The project's guiding principle is to create a more prosperous Montenegro through intelligent development, following the tenets of sustainability and environmental integrity. Tivat-based Lustica Development is 90% owned by Orascom Development Holding - controlled by Egyptian-born Samih Sawiris, part of the nation's richest family, and moved to the Swiss village of Andermatt some four years ago. The remaining 10% is held by the Government of Montenegro. SB Architects are based jointly in San Francisco and Miami.
