The Park Chennai is a five-star deluxe

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

located at the

Anna Flyover Anna Flyover, also known as Gemini Flyover, is a dual-armed grade separator in the central business district of Chennai, India. Built in 1973 and dubbed one of the top-rated flyovers in the country, it is Asia's First Grade Separator, the firs ...

junction on the erstwhile

Gemini Studios Gemini Studios was an Indian film studio based in Madras, Tamil Nadu. It was launched when S. S. Vasan, a businessman of many ventures (including the ownership of Ananda Vikatan) bought Motion Picture Producers' Combines from Krishnaswamy Subr ...

premises on

Anna Salai Anna Salai (), formerly known as St. Thomas Mount Road or simply Mount Road, is an arterial road in Chennai, India. It starts at the Cooum Creek, south of Fort St George, leading in a south-westerly direction towards St. Thomas Mount, and end ...

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The hotel, part of the

Apeejay Surrendra Group The Apeejay Surrendra Group is an Indian business conglomerate that was founded in 1910 in Jalandhar by Lala Pyare Lal. In 1951 the headquarters relocated to Kolkata. Surrendra Paul was chairman from 1982 until his murder in 1989. Most of the ...

, was opened on 15 May 2002 at an investment of around 1 billion.

History

The place where The Park hotel stands today was the location of the Gemini Studios, a historic film studio since the 1940s. Gemini Studios, established on

Mount Road Anna Salai (), formerly known as St. Thomas Mount Road or simply Mount Road, is an arterial road in Chennai, India. It starts at the Cooum Creek, south of Fort St George, leading in a south-westerly direction towards St. Thomas Mount, and end ...

as "Movieland" by filmmaker K. Subrahmanyam, was the city's biggest studio. In 1940, the studio was destroyed by a fire.

S. S. Vasan Subramaniam Srinivasan (4 January 1904 – 26 August 1969), popularly known by his screen name S. S. Vasan, was an Indian journalist, writer, advertiser, film producer, director and business tycoon. He is the founder of the Tamil-language maga ...

, a

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

film maker and a friend of K. Subramaniam, bought the Motion Picture Producers' Combines studio in 1940 in a court auction for 86,427-11-9, the odd figure arrived at through including the interest on unpaid wages of the employees. The studio was rebuilt and opened under the name ''Gemini Studios'' in 1941, which went on to become one of the finest studio and a legendary film production centre in the

Subcontinent A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in area to smallest, these seven ...

. Gemini Pictures declined in the 1970s though remaining successful as a studio and equipment rental business. In the 1990s, two buildings were built in the corner of the studio's premises only to be considered unfavourable among buyers. By the turn of the 21st century, the

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

-based Park Group of Hotels bought the three-star property in the premises and turned it into a five-star luxury hotel and opened it on 15 May 2002 at a cost of 1,100 million. In the same year, the other block was scheduled for auction by

Indian Bank Indian Bank is an Indian public sector bank, established in 1907 and headquartered in Chennai. It serves over 100 million customers with 39,734 employees, 5,721 branches with 5,428 ATMs and Cash deposit machines. Total business of the bank has ...

with a reserve price of 930 million. In 2010, the hotel had a legal fight with the Corporation of Chennai over the ownership of an open space reservation (OSR) land on which the hotel's perimeter compound wall with fountains was built.

The hotel

The art-concept

boutique hotel Boutique hotels are small inventory, design driven, unique hotels with their own character, personality and storytelling at the heart of their concept. Positioning is secondary for these hotels as they focus on authenticity and personalization ...

has 214 rooms, including 120 Deluxe rooms, 79 Luxury rooms, 6 Studio suites, 5 Deluxe suites, 3 Premier suites and 1 Presidential suite. Dining facilities in the hotel include a Thai restaurant named Lotus, 601 (Six-O-One) All day dining restaurant, Pasha–Night club and the Aqua & A2 Restaurants situated on the eighth floor. The hotel also has a bar named the Leather Bar as a tribute to the city's leather industry. The hotel also has a shopping arcade.

Awards

In 2006, ''Forbes'' listed "Atrium" in The Park hotel, Chennai, with its menu designed by Italian chef Antonio Carluccio, amongst India's top 10 most expensive restaurants.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Park, Chennai Hotels in Chennai Hotels established in 2002 2002 establishments in Tamil Nadu Skyscraper hotels in Chennai

History

The hotel

Awards

See also

References

External links