Work to start on St Regis Bermudiana later this year
The plan to build a hotel in the City of Hamilton is on track, according to developer Donal Smith.Mr Smith told The Royal Gazette that he believes the project will break ground before the end of the year.“Like everybody else we are in the anticipation mode,” he said.“Our financing, as has been reported before, is in hand.”From what I understand, the company is looking forward to breaking ground sometime this year.’Tourism Minister Wayne Furbert also said that he is confident that the project is on track.But the Opposition party spokesman for tourism sounded a sceptical tone.“At this point we’ve heard this before,” said Shawn Crockwell. “The question is has the deadline expired?”The One Bermuda Alliance believes there was a 120 day deadline for the financing for the project to be raised.Deputy Mayor Mr Smith who is the vice-president of Par-la-Ville Hotel and Residences Limited, the company seeking to build the new hotel in the city, the St Regis Bermudiana, told this newspaper that there is no deadline.Mr Crockwell called on government to provide an update on the project.“The Government not only promised that this deal would go through but that it would create 600 jobs for Bermudians and this is an endeavour that the Minister said Bermudians can take to the bank,” he said.“What we want to know is, is this another promise made and another promise broken? We hope that our scepticism is wrong.”