Ocean Park in Hong Kong has announced the appointment of Capital Court, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lai Sun Development Company, as the Most Preferred Proponent (MPP) for the development of the resorts upcoming Ocean Hotel.

The MPP has further nominated Marriott International as the proposed operator for the HK$2.5bn ($322m) Ocean Hotel.

Tom Mehrmann, chief executive of Ocean Park, said: "The new 495-room Ocean Hotel will be built on a 17,044sq.m site in front of Ocean Park's main entrance.

"Throughout the tender process, independent consultants were appointed to provide independent and professional advice on the assessment of all hotel proposals.

"In the end, Lai Sun was selected because it has achieved and exceeded the passing scores under the technical evaluations on design excellence, financial strength and management credentials, and has proposed the highest premium amount out of all the tender submissions."

Over the coming weeks, Ocean Park will make a submission to the Town Planning Board as required for the final approval of the existing planning permission for the hotel development.

Upon fulfilment of all planning approval conditions and completion of the lease modification process, the MPP will be appointed as the successful proponent and official developer for the Ocean Hotel by the first quarter of 2014.

The hotel is expected to break ground in the first half of 2014 and opened to the public by early 2017.