Owners of prime Warwick beach front real estate have plans in the works for the property which was slated to be the site of a $200 million Ritz Carlton hotel.

The news came yesterday after a spokesman for a company called PBS claimed that his firm was looking into developing the site.

The 14 acre property on South Shore is owned by Bermudatel Ltd, a local firm which was created before the original hotel project for the site fell through when its Japanese backers withdrew.

Property development company W.B. Johnson Ltd. LLC now represents Bermudatel and spokesman Richard Stevens yesterday told The Royal Gazette that the firm was looking at developing the property.

"We have conceptual plans for the property and will continue exploring them with the Government.'' Tourism Minister David Dodwell confirmed that he had been in discussions with Mr. Stevens and he expected to be contacted in the future.

He stressed that was who he had dealt with in regards to the property -- not PBS.

"He works for W.B. Johnson Ltd. LLC and this is our contact in regards to the ownership of the property. They own and manage Bermudatel which is the company that owns the site.'' A PBS spokesman was reported by the electronic media on Tuesday night as saying that his firm was moving ahead with plans to develop the site.

No-one from PBS could be contacted yesterday and the claim was subsequently rejected by Mr. Stevens.

"He is not involved with our property,'' stressed Mr. Stevens.

He added that he was contacted by a Patrick Bean of PBS but had not had any "substantial conversation'' with him about PBS' interest in the property nor had he received an offer for the property from PBS.

He said he spoke to Mr. Bean yesterday morning and told him that he would appreciate it if he did not discuss W.B. Johnson's property in public without having their permission.

But neither he nor the Tourism Minister ruled out talking to other parties interested in developing the land -- if they were approached in the proper manner.

Mr. Stevens noted: "I am not saying that if someone presented us with an offer that satisfied certain terms and conditions we have that we would not seriously entertain it.'' And Mr. Dodwell added that he would invite anyone, who had W.B. Johnson's approval, to contact him.

"As Minister of Tourism, I would also be interested in talking to any group, including PBS, who wanted to develop the property as long as it has the approval of the owners of the property to have those discussions.'' And Mr. Dodwell said: "I would very much like to see that property developed in the appropriate way which I would view as being an upscale tourism product.'' A hotel was originally set to open in 1993 at the site and Ritz-Carlton Management -- which has now been purchased by Marriott -- was due to run the facility.

TOURISM TOU