Luxury Antalya Hotel, Villas To Be Sold By Bankruptcy Court

The Mardan Palace Hotel and villa complex, which was built in 2009 at a cost of $1.5 billion, is being sold by an Antalya bankruptcy court, as it holds extensive bank debt, according to news outlets on Friday.

The lavish complex was built by Russian Azerbaijani businessman Telman Ismailov and opened in 2009 to great fanfare with a celebration attended by world-famous celebrities including Richard Gere, Mariah Carey, Tom Jones, Sharon Stone, Seal, Paris Hilton and Monica Bellucci along with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and and then-Tourism and Culture Minister Ertuğrul Günay. During better days in 2010, the Mardan Palace was selected by the World Travel Awards -- considered to be the tourism industry's Oscars -- as the year's most luxurious hotel.

The complex will be sold for a mere fraction of the building cost, as the hotel is being sold for TL 650 million while the villas are to be sold for just under TL 70 million. The 560-room hotel is located on 180,000 square meters along Antalya's famous Lara coast. Decorating the rooms with valuable antiques, the owner spared no expense -- the hotel even includes sketches by the famous artist Leonardo da Vinci.

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)