Reykjavík Energy (OR) has issued a statement of willingness to sell Perlan to a group of investors looking to build a 300-room hotel on the property. The city council minority criticises the deal, saying that the full terms of a possible sale were not made public, possibly preventing similar parties from making a deal of their own.
While Perlan has been up for grabs for some time, with rumours circulating that Russian investors were interested in turning it into a casino, yesterday OR issued a statement of willingness to sell the property for about 1.7 billion ISK to parties wanting to build a hotel and hot spring bathing facility on the property, RÚV reports. The statement approved construction to begin on the lot, and gave the investors the right to amend the terms of the agreement until March 31.
Kjartan Magnússon, a city councilperson of the Independence Party and also an OR manager, criticised the move, saying that the sale was never discussed in any OR city council meetings, accusing the Best Party and the Social Democrats of keeping the matter a secret. He added that it was never made clear that the property could be used to build up greater construction than what already stands there. Had this information been made available, he argued, perhaps different parties could have shown an interest and made bids on the property.
OR director Haraldur Flosi Tryggvason said that while it was unfortunate that the statement of willingness was leaked to the press, the sale process of Perlan has never been a secret matter.
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