CHARTING NEW WATERS

PONTIAC LAND’S EVAN KWEE IS PUSHING PAST THE PANDEMIC WITH A NEW RESORT DEVELOPMENT IN THE MALDIVES, AS PART OF THE KWEE FAMILY’S EXPANSION OUT OF SINGAPORE AND INTO THE GLOBAL HIGH-END HOSPITALITY MARKET.

- JESSICA TAN

EVAN KWEE HAS LONG LOVED HOTELS.

“I still remember peering over our balcony [at home in Singapore] every night watching them construct the Regent [hotel] as a young boy. Hotels are in my blood,” he once said in an interview. It’s a good love to have as he is part of the Kwee family, who owns one of Singapore’s largest property groups—including the Regent—that is chaired by his father Kwee Liong Tek.

Now the younger Kwee is helming one of the biggest hospitality projects ever undertaken by Pontiac Land— the Fari Islands development in the Maldives. At 88 hectares, this project is the largest by land size that Pontiac Land has done. The first phase of the development has cost to date about $400 million—more than the $345 million in revenues that the group had last year—and the entire project won’t be finished for another two years. Fari Islands is a major bet for the family, who rank No. 11 on Singapore’s 50 Richest list with a fortune of $5.4 billion.

With the pandemic, Kwee’s dual role as vice chairman of Capella Hotel Group and head of hospitality and design for Pontiac Land puts him in a crucial position. He’s optimistic: “We’ve received excellent feedback and strong interest since the opening.” Its two recently launched hotels are averaging about 30% occupancy, a rate that is typical during the low season in the Maldives. One is a Ritz-Carlton, the chain’s first property in the Maldives, while the second is a Patina, an in-house sister brand of Capella. A third hotel, the Capella Maldives, is slated to open in 2023. Each of the three has its own manmade island, all located in an atoll and centered around a deep lagoon.