Sri Lanka JKH’s Cinnamon Life targets future digital world: Deputy Chairman

July 15, 2015 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s John Keells Holdings, a listed blue chip company said that its 850 million US dollar mixed development project of “Cinnamon Life” is designed to cater to future digital world offering a virtual experience. “Cinnamon Life - Now that is a brick and motor investment. However we believe, if we are to make it work, it would have to give a digital experience to everybody who is working there, living there and visiting there,” Ajit Gunewardene, Deputy Chairman of John Keells Holdings PLC said. “That is going to be the core of the internal design.” He was speaking at the LBR LBO Enterprise Summit 2015 themed "Sri Lanka technology drives disruption, embrace or face extensions” in Colombo, Tuesday. Cinnamon Life is a 4.5 million square feet integrated resort consisting a 800 room luxury hotel, large high end retail mall, luxury residencies, state of the art office space and convention, ballroom & banqueting space, which was previously branded as “Waterfront project”. The project is expected to be completed by 2018. Gunewardene says the project concept plans to cater to the digital world and to about 15,000 people who will be working in the building while multiples of people visiting, daily. “Frankly we are now in the idea generation mode, because we can’t decide what is going to get in there right now, we have the concept, it is what will be relevant for 2020 and beyond,” Gunewardene said. “There is an area we will convert into a complete digital experience for the consumer, there is a half a million square foot mall,” “Now the concept for a mall we all have is, whole lot of shops, we are not going to do that,” “We are converting this to a digital entertainment zone, to attract the subcontinent and the Sri Lankan as well,” “This would give a virtual reality experience which we would push towards 2020.”