Next year, Saipan - the second largest of the Mariana Islands after Guam - will welcome its first new hotel in 30 years and its first-ever luxury casino.

The initial phase of the five-phase project is expected to be completed by December 2016 and will feature a five-star, 350-room hotel with gaming facilities and dining.

The developer Best Sunshine International, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed Imperial Pacific International Holdings, held a press conference at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City on Thursday to announce it.

Instead of using a meeting room, the conference was held in a suite similar to the one US President Herbert Hoover lived in there for more than three decades.

"Why here?" Jeannie Yi, Imperial Pacific managing director, said starting her remarks. "Because this 750-square-foot suite is what our standard room will look like."

Room sizes at the new Garapan Hotel, named for the village it will be in, will range from 750 to 2,700 sq ft and most will have an ocean view.

The company plans to invest $7.1 billion to build and run all five phases of the resort and gaming facilities that will eventually cover 250 acres.

All phases of the resort are expected to be completed and open for business by 2020 and hope to attract more than 2.2 million Chinese tourists annually. Best Sunshine International was granted an exclusive 40-year gaming license by the lottery committee of Saipan.

"It's where the deepest part the ocean is," said Yi, referring to the Mariana Trench. "It's divers' heaven. There are beautiful golf courses and the island itself is a museum of WWII."

Phase Two and Three will break ground in the summer of 2016, completing a fully integrated five-star casino resort with the world's largest water park and a 1,000-meter-long, duty-free shopping street.

Saipan is three times of the size of Macau. It is the closest American territory to China, with a 4- to 5-hour flight time from most China cities. Its visa-on-arrival policy allows tourists to stay on the island for 45 days. Mainland residents need to apply for a visa to visit Macao.

Since late July, Best Sunshine International has been running a temporary casino at the T Galleria duty free shopping center while the resort construction is underway. According to the Pacific Islands Report, the temporary casino has 45 gaming tables and 106 slot machines.

Juan Sablan, Commonwealth Casino Commission chairman, told the report that everything was going smoothly and that the gaming tables continued to cater to Chinese players.

"The players are mostly Chinese. There are a few locals, but I would say about more than 90 percent of the players are Chinese," Sablan said.

The company's goal is to make both the Chinese and the locals happy. "We have two missions. First, develop a new vacation destination for Chinese tourists. Second, bring jobs to the people of the Mariana Islands. We hope everyone gets money in their pockets and enjoys," Yi said.

hezijiang@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily USA 08/14/2015 page1)