Biltmore Hotel Tbilisi
Coordinates: 41°42′08″N 44°47′38″E / 41.70222°N 44.79389°E The Biltmore Hotel Tbilisi (Georgian: სასტუმრო „ბილტმორ თბილისი“) is a luxury hotel in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, operated by the Millennium & Copthorne Hotels. The Biltmore Hotel Tbilisi is the first Biltmore outside of the United States and first hotel in the newly presented upscale luxury Biltmore Collection of the Millennium & Copthorne Hotels. The Grand Opening ceremony took place on July 31, 2016. Located on Rustaveli Avenue, the city's main thoroughfare, the hotel occupies the historical Soviet-era building IMELI, constructed in the 1930s, and a 32-floor skyscraper, built in the 2010s. Remaking of the old building as well as erection of the new one was heavily criticized by preservationists.
About $140 million was invested in the new hotel, mostly by the United Arab Emirates-based construction company Dhabi Group.
The IMELI building, an example of the Stalin-era Socialist Classicism, was constructed in Tbilisi, the capital of then-Soviet Georgia, between 1934 and 1938 based on the design by Alexey Shchusev to house a Tbilisi-branch of the Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute. IMELI (იმელი) is a Georgian rendition of the Institute's Russian name acronymed as IMEL (Russian: ИМЭЛ), which remained colloquial in Tbilisi even after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Shchusev's design was eclectic, featuring elements of both Socialist Classicism and Constructivism. Both the exterior and interior are richly decorated with wooden and metal works, as well as with various Georgian marbles and natural stones. The facades were adorned by the leading Georgian sculptors of that time—Iakob Nikoladze and Tamar Abakelia. In 1986 the building was listed as architectural heritage.
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