The failed Daniel's Head eco-resort is set to re-open next spring as an activity packed watersports centre aimed at younger tourists.

Shadow Tourism Minister David Dodwell and business partner Russell Urban are under contract to buy the former Canadian Naval Base in Sandys and Parliament will vote tomorrow on whether to approve the lease.

Under the terms of the lease, the new owners will not be able to tear down the 96 tents, so they have decided to "reconcept" the 18 acre site into a "fun, funky waterfront location with a casual environment," said Mr. Urban.

He said he was convinced there was a market for this type of activity-packed holiday aimed at mainly East Coast American and British visitors aged between 25 and 45.

Daniel's Head, which went into receivership in April 2002 after just 18 months in business, had flopped because of the September 11 attacks and the United States going into recession, he said. Squatters have been living in the tented village but Mr. Dodwell, who also owns The Reefs, plans to brighten up the site, have plenty of watersports like kayaking, boating and snorkeling, and introduce room service on golf buggies.

Guests will be given mobile phones and to appeal to younger visitors, there will be wireless internet access allowing them to use their laptops on the beach.

Mr. Dodwell and Mr. Urban are spending $4.5 million in buying the property and upgrading it and plan to re-open next April.

The pair are partners with other investors in Mr. Dodwell's Nisbet Plantation in Nevis, Colonial Inn in Martha's Vineyard, Casa del Mar in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, as well as The Reefs.

"We are taking the look and feel of the resort and changing it from an eco-tourism resort and converting it to to a fun, funky waterfront location with a casual environment," Mr. Urban told .

"I don't think anything like this exists in Bermuda and there is a real niche for something in the three to four star range in pricing, but not four star rooms.

"We want to make the amenities geared towards action and the age range will be 25-45. It will appeal to families and also to couple. And we want to set up corporate outings that will appeal to business in Hamilton that want to get out of the normal meetings to have corporate games."

The dock will be improved, food and beverages will be sold on both levels of the main building, and outdoor decks will be constructing if they getting planning approval.

Some of the tented rooms which overlook the ocean may get rope ladders allowing guest to lower themselves into the sea.

Mr. Urban said the previous owners made a mistake marketing Daniel's Head as an eco-resort in a sophisticated place like Bermuda, but he feels his company ? IRC Sandys Ltd ? can charge high rates for the tents.

"There is no relation between tent cottages and pricing. In the US Virgin islands and in South America, people are being charged $500-600 a night in cottages that are more basic than ours. "We are aiming at a lifestyle. We are not appealing for people who want a Four Seasons or Ritz-Carlton room with air conditioning on all the time.

"We are offering a very upscale but different environment that people are willing to pay for." Referring to the condition of the site, Mr. Dodwell said: "It is not good. It has been invaded for a couple, of years so it will need a massive clean up and rehabilitation job then we will have the acquisition of new furnishings."

The business partners, who are both graduates of Cornell Hotel School, have not yet come up with a name for the new resort. Bank of Butterfield appointed receivers to run Daniels Head after a company set up by Excel Legacy Corporation in San Diego went bust. Bermuda Land Development Company owns the land, which is why the House of Assembly must approve the lease.