Historic Addis Abeba Sites to Make Way for Ethiopia Hotel Expansion

Landmark sites off Churchill Avenue, including an 80-year old structure in the National Theatre neighbourhood, are to be demolished after six years of dispute over the historical value of the properties.

One of these is the Bego Adragot Building, constructed during the five-year Italian occupation in the 1930s. It has housed well-known commercial entities for decades, including Shi Solomon Supermarket, Lion Bar, Yohanis Jewelry, and the Picnic Basket Restaurant.

Under the ownership of the Federal Housing Corporation, some of these tenants paying up to 70,000 Br in monthly rent have had to close down and move elsewhere since the start of the dispute with the Belayneh Kindie (BK) Group, the business conglomerate that has acquired Ethiopia Hotel from the government.

The Group is kicking off expansion project, incorporating properties laying right behind the hotel for which the Corporation was paid compensation. After the Group acquired the Hotel from the then Ethiopian Privatisation Agency in 2010 for 94 million Br, the expansion had been on the drawing board.

Under the watch of former Deputy Mayor Takele Uma, now serving as Minister of Mines & Petroleum, the Addis Abeba City Administration gave the go-ahead to the BK Group three years ago, a decision which had already been made by the previous administration but had failed to materialise following challenges to the expansion plans. Advocates, including some of the tenants, urged the federal government to register the properties set to demolish as heritage sites.

Ethiopia Hotel, operating since 1963, was built during the Imperial era to host delegates who came to Addis Abeba for the inaugural summit of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). It will be demolished to make way for the BK Group's ambitious plans to replace it with a five-star establishment.

The Group is under the family of Belayneh Kindie, a graduate of a military cadet course in the late 1980s. He got involved in the grain trade before making his name with the export of cash crops such as sesame and coffee. Recently, he opened an industrial scale edible oil processing plant in the Amhara Regional State, inaugurated by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) and his deputy, Demeke Mekonnen.

BK Group runs a portfolio of 22 companies engaged in exports and imports as well as construction and manufacturing, employing close to 3,000 people.

The Group's managers appear to be unconcerned with the historical value of the building, claiming that their expansion will be of more value.

"It's so dilapidated and old, although located in a prime area," said a senior manager from the Group. "As hospitality service providers, we need to enhance the country's image through developing a world-class hotel property."