The Pink Beach Club is to be sold — and restored as a luxury hotel by 2015.The deal, approved by MPs during Friday’s House of Assembly, comes three years after the Tucker’s Town resort was placed in receivership.Sweeping concessions were offered for the $12.5 million sale, but Government defended its bargain as crucial for sealing the deal.The South Shore hotel has “long been synonymous with the storied success of Bermuda’s tourism industry”, Tourism Minister Shawn Crockwell told the House.PBC Holdings will purchase Pink Beach, which will be managed by the international chain Capella Hotel Group, in return for tax concessions totalling $6.5 million.The tax breaks add up to $1.3 million annually, spread across five years.Mr Crockwell said the Smith’s property will be converted to a five-star resort with more than 200 employees by 2015, adding: “They will endeavour to open next May, 2014, with most of the hotel.”The Minister called on MPs to act with “the urgency of now”, saying that with the Island’s hotels full but airlines coming in at 50 percent capacity, “something is wrong”.Shadow Minister Wayne Furbert said the Opposition welcomed the deal — but other Progressive Labour Party MPs questioned some of the terms negotiated by Government.Calling the tax breaks “a serious giveaway”, independent MP Terry Lister likened the arrangement to a “50 percent off sale”, adding: “Where do I sign up? This sounds like something I want a piece of too.”Mr Lister also queried how Pink Beach had obtained a more favourable deal than concessions offered to the Fairmont Group.However, the One Bermuda Alliance’s Grant Gibbons countered that the deal represented “a match made in heaven”, since Capella Group is known for high-end resorts.Dr Gibbons said the buyers would be acquiring a property currently in receivership and needed a “sweetener up front” — but that the new hotel would bring long-term revenue to Bermuda.“Even though we have had to provide more concessions, perhaps it’s wrong to say ‘concession’ — really, it’s financial stimulus.”In response to charges that the deal could have been negotiated better, Dr Gibbons told MPs: “One hundred percent of nothing is nothing. From our perspective, if these concessions were not given, we would not be getting anything.”PLP MP Michael Scott declared his support, telling the House that arguments over matters like entertainment spending should be left until later.“For heaven’s sake, let’s get the hotel up,” Mr Scott said, noting that concession legislation passed by the PLP was concerned solely with driving development.In response to questions from Mr Furbert, Mr Crockwell revealed that Pink Beach currently employs 35 Bermudians and eight non-Bermudians.In two years, it is estimated that the hotel will employ 192 Bermudians and 23 foreign workers, to a total of 215 — about 173 new jobs.“We need to welcome this development with open arms,” Mr Crockwell concluded.The order got unanimous approval by MPs.By press time last night, the Ministry of Tourism had declined to specify which investors made up PBC Holdings — but The Royal Gazette understands that the group isn’t linked to the Florida-based company of the same name.