The much-awaited Hulhumale' City Hotel, a venture that had been inactive for years despite significant funding, officially reopened on Saturday as the Manhattan Grand Hotel on November 7th.

The inauguration of the hotel took place during a special ceremony on Saturday evening, officiated by Hassan Zareer, the Minister of Finance.

The Manhattan Grand Hotel boasts over 150 rooms and has been crafted to embody architectural features influenced by the historic Friday Mosque. The hotel states that the property has been designed to serve business travelers, long-term guests, and individuals organizing meetings, conferences, and various events.

The hotel stated that its interior design features aspects of traditional Maldivian artistry, merging local culture with contemporary hospitality norms.

The asset was transferred to World of Business Pvt Ltd, a foreign investment firm functioning in the Maldives under Dubai's Deep Sea Food Company, on August 20 of last year for conversion into a five-star hotel. Before the transfer, the property was managed by the state-owned State Trading Organization (STO).

The project's roots date back to 2006, when STO's board sanctioned plans for a city hotel intended to generate foreign currency income. The five-star hotel with 250 rooms started being built in 2011 in collaboration with the Carlson Group from the United States.

Throughout the years, the project encountered constant setbacks and stayed as one of Hulhumale's most noticeable incomplete developments. STO made numerous efforts to sell the property after pouring significant resources into the project without seeing any returns.

STO collaborated with the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) on initiatives to finalize the hotel. Though the majority of the building's structure was finished, progress was halted for several years because of different obstacles.