The Fall of Hotel Fjord

Government-owned Hotel Fjord

​Hotel Fjord was commissioned by the Yugoslavian government and the design by the Bosnian architect, Zlatko Ugljen, was selected through an open architecture competition.  It was completed in 1986 and operated for 19 years before it was privatized in 2005 and sold to Irish businessmen.

When it closed there was great promise of a new marina and impressive development.  But whilst I saw work begin and progress with speed at Porto Montenegro and Lustica Bay over the years, Hotel Fjord’s promised transformation lay by the wayside.  It was left to crumble for well over a decade, with its tiles and other salvageable material gradually being picked off bit by bit by opportunist locals, until it resembled something like a ghost town.  An eerie reminder of a bygone era.

​I had eventually given up any hope of anything being done with the site until April 2018 when the bulldozers arrived.  The demolition of Hotel Fjord had begun and the invitation to tender for a leisure and tourism development was out.  Hoorah!

​The story behind Hotel Fjord

But why had it taken so long to get to this point?

Ever intruiged why such potential in such a stunning location could be just left like that for 15 years, I got my investigative hat on.Michael Fingleton, who led Irish Nationwide Building Society for 38 years, set up New Fjord Developments and bought Hotel Fjord in 2005 for a cool 5.5 million euros. His partner, Irish developer Louis Maguire, held a 25pc stake in the company.  The plan was for a top-notch hotel and leisure complex.However, the company ended up in bankruptcy and the men became locked in a series of legal disputes for more than 10 years over the project.

Mr Fingleton ended up being sued by his business partner and creditors of the company, which Mr Fingleton set up to buy the hotel, also took bankruptcy proceedings against him, as they were owed money for preparatory work carried out. There were even rumours that the Montenegro government were suing him.

So, it sounds like Mr Fingleton was having a pretty troublesome time of it, while his hotel was left neglected and abandoned.

New owners of Hotel Fjord

​But a new chapter began in the life of Hotel Fjord in 2017 when it was bought, along with the nearby administrative building, Jugooceanija, by Podgorica-based Boka Bay Investment Ltd. for 10.4 million euros. (It’s been reported that Mr Maguire said that he, as a 25pc shareholder, didn’t receive any of the proceeds of the sale).

Boka Bay Investment is owned by Orhan Pelinković who has a 10% stake and Habib Cem Bahadir, later replaced by GB Investment Development Ltd, with a 90% stake in the company. The company’s primary activity is “purchase and sale of own real estate”. ​ So I am guessing that this is why they may be going out to tender to appoint the actual development to another company.

So, while Mr Maguire and Mr Fingleton are licking their wounds over the whole lengthy and painful process, I await with bated breath to see the next installment in the saga of Hotel Fjord.

If it lives up to the standard set by other major developments in Montenegro, any new development will be something special. ​Something that befits the spectacular setting in beautiful Kotor Bay.

At long last!