One of China’s largest real estate developers has joined forces with hospitality company Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts to open a luxury property in the northeastern city of Dalian.

Luneng Group has appointed architects NBBJ Shanghai and designers Hirsch Bedner Associates (HBA) to create the Four Seasons Hotel Dalian on a site within the Donggang East Harbour.

The hotel will be housed in a new mixed-use tower overlooking Dalian’s historic port and downtown core, close to the city’s beach and commercial district of restaurants, bars and shops.

It will feature 250 guest rooms and suites, a pool, a fitness centre, a spa and several ballrooms.

Tokyo-based designers Strickland will conceive on-site restaurants, as well as a hotel bar, lobby lounge and a deli and pastry shop with outdoor terrace. Construction is set to begin later this year, with an anticipated opening in 2020.

“With a pre-eminent location in downtown Dalian within the Donggang district, Four Seasons Hotel Dalian will be a great addition to the city,” said Tao Zhou, head of Luneng Group’s hotel division.

“We are pleased to partner with Four Seasons, a company we greatly admire, to bring our combined vision to life as a crowning feature of the city’s new financial and commercial centre.”

Luneng Group is the state-owned subsidiary of State Grid Corporation of China, the world's largest public utility company.

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts – which operates more than 100 hotels around the world – is also developing properties in Kuwait, Tunisia and Greece.