The Fairmont Hamilton Princess hopes to build a yacht club and add additional rooms as part of a $52 million expansion.In a press conference at the hotel yesterday, Tourism Minister Wayne Furbert announced that Government has granted in-principle support for the redevelopment plan submitted by Global Hospitality Investments (GHI), the hotel’s owner.However, he noted that the company must still make a submission to the Development Applications Board for the project to move forwards.The expansion included adding an additional three floors to the current Poinciana wing, making it six storeys in total. Rooms already in existence in the wing will be refurbished with the third floor being added to the Fairmont Gold category.Floors four through six would accommodate 66 additional keys configured into 33 hotel residences.The proposal also includes a yacht club with between 60 and 90 permanent berths, which could be leased to residents and transient yachting visitors, a fitness centre, renovations to the existing swimming pool and a new restaurant.“We applaud GHI for having the vision and, despite the economic downturn, the company has opted to proceed with its capital investment plans,” Mr Furbert said.“We believe that this project will increase employment in both the hotel and construction industries and stimulate the economy through increased bed count inventory.“We look forward to the increased hotel inventory and the new yacht club, where my boat may park one of these days, which we believe will hold significant social and economic development opportunities for the area and the tourism sector as a whole.”Mr Furbert also said that the impact of the yacht facilities would help of raising awareness of Bermuda in the yachting community, attracting world class yacht owners and potentially providing a boost to Hamilton businesses.He described the project as “phase two” of the improvements, following $25 million refurbishments in 2007, which included renovations to 113 guest rooms in the Bermudiana House and refurbishment of 85 guest rooms in the main building, the Fairmont Gold Lounge and the hotel’s restaurants.Chip Halquist, of GHI, said: “In Bermuda, we see a great future and that is the reason why we continue to invest in the hotel.”He stressed the need for regular improvements to keep the hotel competitive both locally and internationally, saying: “We need to keep upping the stakes.”Construction is expected to take between 18 to 24 months to complete, with work being based around seasonal periods of lower occupancy. However Mr Halquist said how soon work begins depends largely on how long it takes for the plans to properly move through the planning process.He said he looked forward to working with the Government, the hotel’s neighbours and local environmental groups as the project moves forward.