Government is expected to announce in the next week which company has been chosen to take over the redevelopment of the old Club Med site in the East End.

It has taken some years to get there, but Minister for Tourism and Telecommunications Ren?ee Webb yesterday said she expected a decision to be made soon and made public.

Two consortiums were short-listed and asked to give presentations to Cabinet, with both having similar ideas on what should be built at the old hotel site, which closed as the Club Med in the late 1980s. “Club Med is down to selecting the final company,” said Ms Webb at a Press conference yesterday.

“A presentation was given to the Cabinet this past Tuesday and a decision is imminent. You will hear in the next week - we are picking the final one.

“Both of them had a hotel, residential and some type of cultural component. What was clear was that the mandate was that... it had to tie into St. George's being a heritage site.”

The two development groups are believed to be Renaissance and SteppingRock. The Renaissance application includes both Bermudian and overseas partners. The Quorum Group, which is based in Toronto, New York and Bermuda, is part of the consortium.

SteppingRock, which is based in Dallas, has partnered with Bermudian Patrick Bean and plans to build a 110-bedroomed hotel, 60 homes and a rehabilitation centre for injured sportsmen and drug addicts.

When asked last night if he was feeling confident, Mr. Bean would only say: “The only comment I will make is that the tourism department knows about where we stand and our position in this whole development.”

The site, close to Fort St. Catherine in St. George's, has lain empty for years and has been the source of much frustration for the people of the East End, who have wanted to see tourism and business boosted.

And delays over its redevelopment have also led to criticisms from some parties, who claimed Government was unable to close a deal and was in danger of sending out the wrong message to hotel investors overseas.

Businessman Richard Bachman, who failed to make the short-list to develop the hotel as president of Global Properties, said this summer that despite having $35 million financing in place and pushing for around two years, his company was not even given a chance to present its case. Ms Webb said at the time of his criticism that Government did not have to explain why the two companies were short-listed and why others were not. “We are under no obligation to tell anyone,” said Ms Webb.

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