Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, Asia Pacific's leading luxury hotel group, will open two luxury hotels in Puxi, Shanghai in 2011.  The hotels will be the focal points of the new Jing An Kerry Centre, Shanghai on famous Nanjing Road -- a new business, retail, entertainment, dining and conference complex designed to become a city landmark in the heart of the prestigious Jing An District. 

The luxury Jing An Shangri-La, Shanghai will open mid-2011.  The hotel will occupy the top 24 floors of a 58-storey, Grade A building, with the lower floors comprising restaurants, offices and retail shops.  The 347 guestrooms will measure an average 62 square metres.  The hotel will offer an array of dining experiences, including a lobby lounge, all-day cafe, Chinese and Japanese restaurants.  Also included will be CHI, The Spa at Shangri-La, the group's signature spa brand, health club and pool.  

The sleekly styled Shangri-La's Jing An Kerry Centre Hotel will be modelled on the group's similarly contemporary Kerry Centre Hotel in Beijing.  The 600-room, 43-storey hotel will open the end of 2011.  Designer retail shops will face Nanjing Road at street level.  Guests on the 116-room Horizon Club floors will have access to a spacious club lounge with its own bar, with express check-in and check-out and complimentary breakfast and cocktails.  

Dining options will include a signature lounge, a Chinese restaurant, and a glass-enclosed all-day restaurant.  Additional facilities will include a 3,100-square-metre health club and swimming pool with outdoor terrace.  A fifth-floor roof garden will be used for weddings, events and as a conference pre-function area.

Both hotels will overlook a 3,000-square-metre "town square" central courtyard featuring pathways, gardens, water features and al fresco dining.  Within the courtyard, amidst the modernity, a piece of history will be preserved for all to enjoy:  Shangri-La will work with the Jing An District Government to restore and preserve the existing home in which Chairman Mao spent several months in 1920.

The hotels will share 4,570 square metres of meeting and conference space located between the hotels, which will include a 2,400-square-metre grand ballroom, the largest deluxe hotel ballroom in west Shanghai, with its own lobby and drop-off area, complemented by a junior ballroom of 1,000 square metres.  In addition, together the hotels' individual function rooms will total 2,200 square metres. 

Bounded by four city blocks, the development will be easily accessible, including direct access to underground subway stations. Each tower will be seamlessly interconnected by paths, enclosed walkways and bridges.  The hotels will be a 45-minute drive from Pudong International Airport and 20 minutes from Hongqiao Airport. 

The group has named New York-based Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates as architect.  The interior design of Jing An Shangri-La will be done by Wilson Associates Singapore and by Hong Kong-based Brian Chan for Jing An Kerry Centre Hotel. 

"The addition of two hotels in Puxi, together with our Shangri-La hotel in Pudong, will allow us to accommodate the ever-increasing demand for luxury accommodation and comprehensive meeting facilities in Shanghai," said Giovanni Angelini, Shangri-La's chief executive officer and managing director.