Hotel lease extension nets $13.4M for public purse

(CNS Business): Government is expecting to collect $13.4 million from the owners of the Westin Grand Cayman Seven Mile Beach Resort & Spa after talks regarding the extension of the hotel’s lease for the crown land it stands on were completed. Planning Minister Kurt Tibbetts told the Legislative Assembly that the report on the lease had been gazetted, paving the way for the lease to be extended to 99 years now that the first 99 year term has passed the halfway mark.

Presenting the report dealing with the details of the lease extension to his parliamentary colleagues, Tibbetts said that, as required by law, three valuations were carried out on the property that government proposes to ‘vest’.

The parcel covers 7.83 acres of beachfront land along Seven Mile Beach and is part of a wider leasehold that includes the crown land on which the Ritz-Carlton, the Villas of the Galleon and Sunshine Suites are all located.

Tibbetts said the new owners had approached government in order to extend the lease up to the full 99 years, and following “protracted negotiations” with the government’s chief valuation officer, he had recommended the extension be approved, taking the lease to 2114 in return for a premium of $13.4 million plus stamp duty and relevant costs.

Tags: Featured, Kurt Tibbetts, Westin Grand Cayman Seven Mile Beach Resort & Spa

Category: Stay-over tourism, Tourism