MOROCCO

special advertising section7Casablanca project, which is scheduledto be ready in 2012. “We haven’t evenstarted to market this product, andwe’ve already received more than 400requests,” says Ouanaya. “We aim to dodifficult things others cannot do.“Last week we were in Nador [in thenortheast] with His Majesty [KingMohammed VI], and we have enteredinto a partnership with Al Omrane [aconstruction company] to develop atown there.”Morocco’s appeal to foreigners as aresidential prospect rests firmly on itssocial stability, cultural and religious harmony,weather and varied landscapes.“Our country is exceptional,” saysLazraq. “From Agadir to Fez, the mountains,the desert, the sea – Europeansare still coming.”Jean-Pierre Lescourret/CorbisLazraq, an architect, created Alliancesas a services provider in 1994 andquickly began specializing in hotel renovation,establishing partnerships with theAccor, Park Hyatt, Starwood and theFour Seasons hotel chains.Alliances is organized into four sectors:hotels, golf resorts, residentialdevelopment and suburban centers withtheir own commodities. “We are numberone in the hotel business,” Lazraqsays. “We rehabilitated the Palais Jamaiin Fez in 1998, the Sofitel in Essaouiraand in Marrakech and most of the Ibishotels in Morocco.“Last year, we delivered 575 rooms forthe Ibis Novotel hotels in Casablanca ontime, and based on this expertise, wehave been asked to build the new ClubMed in the Palmeraie in Marrakech,which is a megaproject with 1,200rooms.”Alliances is currently building Sofitelhotels in Agadir and Casablanca; theFour Seasons, Lucien Barriere and Suiteshotels in Marrakech; and Ibis hotels inTangier and Essaouira.“We have expertise in working withforeign groups,” says Lazraq. “The factthat the leading chains have beenworking with us for so long demonstratesthis.” ❖million in the development of EdenIsland, a residential resort on theAtlantic coast in the Bouznika regionbetween Casablanca and Rabat. Slaouisays it is comparable to St. Tropez onthe French Riviera.Most of the buyers are Moroccan.“The real market is the national market.I sell 99% of Eden Island toMoroccan buyers. Foreigners wouldrather go to Marrakech, Tangier or theMediterranean coast.”Jascom is active throughout the countryand is building a five-star hotel with32 suites, a health spa and a pool in thePalmeraie of Marrakech called Domainedes Remparts.“We are experiencing exponentialgrowth in turnover,” says Slaoui. “Wedon’t distribute dividends but reinvest allour resources in new projects. We arecurrently in the process of raising fundswith international partners who wish toinvest with us in Morocco.”Rachid Khayatey’s company, KLK,which is active in all real estate sectors,now intends to focus primarily on housingfor the middle class. “We will beusing economies of scale and speed ofproduction to develop successful programs,”he says. “We are visualizinghow things will be in the future.”In accordance with this strategy, thecompany is building a two-tower apartmenthotel in Malabata Hills, featuringsmall apartments that will respond tothe needs of the companies based atTangier-Med, the new megaport that isrevitalizing the economy of Tangier.KLK is a partnership between threeinvestors: an architect, an industrialistand a businessman. Khayatey, the architect,says each of the company’s projectshas to have social and economic impact.“I started with 14 villas, and five yearslater we had 200. Our projects are nowworth $1 billion. We are famous for fixingour prices based on the margin, noton the market. I am a technician andcan give the most accurate and fair costevaluation of a project. Our industrialpartner produces it, and our commercialpartner sells it, so when we releasedevelopments, they are a tremendoussuccess. On one occasion, we sold 300apartments in one day.” ❖