Palmetto Gardens owner Jeff Amaral yesterday gave an assurance that he will build a new hotel at the Flatts Village site he has developed for condominiums.

Mr. Amaral's permission to build to luxury condominium development at Flatts was tied to him also constructing a small hotel after the Palmetto Gardens Hotel was demolished two years ago. The developer said he still does not have a start date for building the hotel because he is still working on a financing package, and condo sales had been slower than expected.

But he reiterated that he will build the hotel, and said that contrary to a recent letter in The Royal Gazette, he had not been given tax breaks under the Hotel Concessions Act for building the condominiums.

"I don't have a definite date as I am still working on the financing and the construction budget, but once I get these things finalised, we'll get started," he told The Royal Gazette.

"It is still the plan to build the hotel, without a doubt. It has been my dream, it was the initial plan and it is what we are working towards.

"Due to things since as 9/11, we haven't sold the (condo) units as quickly as we would have wanted to and started the hotel, but we are still working very definitely on getting it done. I saw that letter to the editor and I was going to respond to it. We did not get any concessions for the condo site. That was done and completed as a separate contracting issue."