The former Paradise Hotel Saipan in Garapan has been acquired by a group of Russian businessmen for $650,000.
The Saipan Tribune reports that the purchase of the 32-room hotel across the Commonwealth Health Center comes in the heels of other Russian investors also acquiring Marianas Coffee, a company that grows its own coffee beans on Saipan and distributes them around the island.
Volcano Tours Travel general manager Vlad Melnik, K Family LLC general manager Igor Karapetyan, and their partners plans to plunk down an additional $1 million to renovate the hotel.
The increasing number of tourists in the CNMI is creating a lack of available hotel rooms and Melnik hopes the reopening of Paradise Hotel Saipan will help meet that need, albeit on a smaller scale.
Russian businessmen are said to be also eyeing the establishment of eco-tourism tours on Pagan in the Northern Islands.
