Eagle Hospitality Trust sponsor developing 30-year plan for Queen Mary

EAGLE Hospitality Trust's (EHT) sponsor is working on a 30-year plan to preserve and improve the trust's Queen Mary floating hotel docked in Long Beach, California.

Urban Commons (UC), which operates the historic ship, announced this in a statement released to Singapore media on Monday, although it did not disclose when the plan will be published.

The preservation blueprint will be accessible to the public and outline major renovations along with their associated costs, to safeguard the ship's entire framework and maintain its "iconic" image, UC said.

Annual inspections are part of the 30-year plan, as are "close-up surveys" to be done every five years, the Los Angeles-based real estate investment and development firm said. These reviews are meant to ensure that the plan is being implemented and to update and reprioritise it if needed.

Every 10 years, an additional decade will also be added to the plan.

UC is working with a marine surveyor and structural engineer to create the plan which will cover aesthetic, structural and engineering issues, said John Thomas, historic resources adviser at the Queen Mary.

It will not only cover the present state of those areas but also anticipate decades of continuous work with associated capital investment, he added.

The 30-year plan will address any further studies and establish a "comprehensive" maintenance and monitoring plan for the vessel, according to Mr Thomas.

The announcement of the upcoming blueprint came almost a month after the long-time consultant for the Queen Mary was fired. The City of Long Beach in California, which leases the ship to EHT, terminated its exclusive contract with Edward Pribonic in late December 2019.

Separately, on Friday night, EHT disclosed that its single-largest shareholder had sold 20 million stapled securities in EHT via a married deal, paring his stake from 13 per cent to 10.69 per cent.

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