Jamaica
News - Real Estate - Tourism (October
25,
2004)
US$850-m hotel development for MoBay
Prime Minister P J
Patterson on Friday broke ground for a US$850 million ($5.3b)
hotel project in the Rose Hall area of St James, on the outskirts
of Montego Bay.
It is a joint venture between
Rose Hall Developments Limited and Iberostar, a Spanish hotel
chain that operates in the Dominican Republic, United States,
Spain, Greece and Turkey.
According to chairman of the
Iberostar Group, Miguel Fluxa, his company will be constructing
three hotels over a five-year period, resulting in 950 new rooms
at Rose Hall.
These properties will cater
mainly to Europeans.
Iberostar will spend US$200 million
in the first instance, to construct a 350-room hotel that is
scheduled to be on the market and ready for business in winter
2005.
The hotel will feature, among
other things a swim-up bar, a theatre bar and cigar bar.
The development also involves the
construction of two other hotels of 300 rooms each.
"The construction of this
new Iberostar Resort and Spa will enhance the facilities which
Montego Bay will have to offer to the increased numbers of
vacationers and business travellers," said Patterson.
Several overseas investors are
planning to construct thousands of hotel rooms in the north and
western sections of the island. The projects include the
$72-billion complex in Harmony Cove, Trelawny, an 850-room hotel
in Oyster Bay, St Ann, as well as the Pinero Group's 600-room
property at Pear Tree River, in the same parish.
On Friday, Patterson argued that
the planned tourism-related projects are proof that foreign
investors have confidence in the country.
"Foreign investors have
confidence in Jamaica and it is time more of our local investors
step to the plate with their money and their resources," the
prime minister said.
Meanwhile, during Friday's
ground breaking ceremony the developers of the Iberostar Rose Hall
Resort and Spa donated US$100,000 to the government to help with
hurricane relief projects along the island's South Coast.
The money was presented to the
prime minister by Fluxa.
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