Developer begins work on road to proposed hotel
St James Point Road groundbreaking (L-R) Cabinet members Wayne Panton, Osbourne Bodden and Premier Alden McLaughlin, and developer John David Layton
(CNS Business): Developers and politicians were out in force Thursday to announce the start of a road that will lead to a proposed new hotel development in the Beach Bay area. Although the project has not started, developers claim St James Point Resort will begin with a 200-room hotel and 75 residential units managed by undisclosed “world renowned brands”.
The developers are funding this stretch of road, which, if the project becomes a reality, will be connected to Bodden Town’s road network by a government-funded stretch of road. This 2,700 feet of road, to be renamed St James Point Road, will be a dual carriageway with a landscaped median, at the end of which will be the hotel — if it comes to fruition.
Premier Alden McLaughlin, who was at the event to mark the start of the piece of road, said, “Once government is in a position to complete the connector road from Manse Road through to Beach Bay, there should be several benefits, including an additional roadway out of Bodden Town and unlocking values of property along the southern coast, with the potential of further increasing development of the district.”
Hopeful that the project will actually happen, he said that in addition to creating jobs, the development of St James Point would increase room stock and bring more tourists.
“Government will receive income for decades to come from hotel room tax, visitor spend, duty from the sale of condominiums and more. Equally important is the added economic benefit from the jobs that will be created directly and indirectly from this project,” he added.
Government agreed a $25 million waiver package with the developers in September when it signed an MOU with John David Layton, the Managing Director of Beach Bay Land Limited, the developers behind the project.
Developers claim St James Point will create over 1,000 jobs, including 750 during construction, supported by local suppliers and partners. The hotel is scheduled to open in late 2018.
Layton described the start of the road works as “vital progress of the project”.
“Ensuring that residents and visitors to St James Point have proper and attractive access to this beautiful new resort is an essential element of its success, so we are excited to make this announcement today,” he said. “This exciting milestone in the project’s development could not have been made without the help of the Cayman Islands Government, who have assisted us with the planning process to facilitate building the road. We are pleased to be moving forward on the project and look forward to making further announcements soon,” he added.
Officials claimed that during clearance for the road, the developers had taken care to protect and flag rare trees and shrubs for relocation and transplant.
“As a group, we are extremely sensitive to Cayman’s natural environment and we will be doing our utmost to ensure important flora remains intact during the construction and development process,” Layton said. Volunteers from local horticultural societies have been fundamental in helping to identify the species to be transplanted.
Category: Construction, Local Business
I am confused. Is the developer building this road or is Government (the Cayman people) building this road?
OK, I think I get it now, we are giving the developer $25 million to build the road, but Government will have to go back and build the real road…….the two lane, landscaped medium one. I think I get it now.
What guarantees of penalties are in place with the developer in the event he just decides to subdivide up his beachfront land and sell it after Government has invested in building the road?
This smells like a scheme to get Government to build a road to someone’s landlocked property that just happens to be on the ocean front.
Anyway, I digress, the real story here is that when the road is finished, it will result in 1,000 jobs for Caymanians so the PPM is to be congratulated.
Now I am confused again. Why is it necessary for Government to spend $300 million on a new dock in order to create 1,000 jobs,and, we can pay $25 million in concessions to this developer in the private sector who will also create 1,000 jobs???
OK, I think I get it again. The PPM wants to create these 2,000 jobs so that they can get the revenue from 2,000 work permits, or, is Moses and Alden creating those 2,000 jobs so that they can find employment when they become unemployed at the end of their term in May 2016?
It is a good think that the unemployed Caymanians in this country are easily satisfied by offering them 750 jobs picking up garbage as the PPM is surely spewing a lot of garbage..
No major brand is going to go where there is no quality beach. Fantasy land. Buyer beware.
Be interesting to find out who the mysterious “world renowned brands” are. A few years ago when this project was first discussed the developers were claiming to have Hilton on board but nothing came of that. I’m deeply sceptical about this, the people involved don’t seem to have any background in major hotel development.
It’s great to see this project begin. There’s currently boom in South Sound and Seven Mile Beach, while the eastern districts are normally quiet so this is a nice change.