The 27-year-old Furama Hotel in Central could be closed down as early as December to make way for a 430,000 square-feet office redevelopment.
A design plan for the redevelopment project was expected to be approved by the Government soon, said an executive at Singapore-based CapitaLand, which jointly owns a 65 per cent stake in the hotel with New York-listed American International Group (AIG).
'The construction probably will start in about four to five months once government approval is secured,' the executive said.
In March last year, CapitaLand entered into a 50:50 joint venture with AIG to buy 65 per cent of the Furama for HK$1.88 billion from Lai Sun Development. Lai Sun Development now has a 35 per cent stake in the hotel.
A Furama Hotel spokesman said the hotel would stop taking banquet reservations beginning on December 1. But she denied the hotel would be closed down in October, as reported by Chinese-language newspaper Apple Daily.
The spokesman said staff - there are about 600 employees - had not been informed about any demolition of the hotel.
The CapitaLand executive said the proposed office redevelopment would provide a gross floor area of between 410,000 square feet and 430,000 sq ft, subject to the final design.