Premier Dr. Ewart Brown broke ground yesterday on the site of a new affordable housing facility on the site of the former Golden Hind Resort.

"This is affordable housing Bermuda style," Dr. Brown said. "With an ocean view."

The affordable housing is part of the Grand Atlantic project, which will also feature a hotel on the South Shore site in Warwick.

The Premier said the project would simultaneously help provide homes for Bermudians while helping the local tourism industry.

"We need to have a fresh hotel so that we give the visitors more options," he said.

"There is not a lot of money floating around these days for hotel projects, so there's a requirement for creative thinking."

He praised the speed at which the project, fist announced four months ago, was moving forward, saying: "Four weeks ago I said we would be breaking ground on this site, and I said it without a smirk because I know Mr. Lopes. He just needs the green light.

"As you can tell by the look of the site, people are here to do work."

The first stage of the $150 million development, the construction of 24 homes, is expected to take around 10 months, with another 27 units being completed six months later and another 27 units coming six months later.

Another 47 units, along with a 100-room hotel with 20 fractional units, will come later, with construction on the hotel expected to start by the end of this year and last two to three years.