New luxury hotel to replace cancelled Auberge development
By Ryan Haas
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
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South east peninsula
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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts-AS a sign that the worsening global financial crisis has yet to fully sink its claws into the Federation of St. Kitts-Nevis, the Christophe Harbour Development Corporation (CHDC) stated yesterday (Oct. 8) that there will be a second ‘five-star’ hotel built on the Southeast Peninsula in lieu of the Auberge resort cancelled in early August.
In an exclusive interview with SKNVibes, LeGrand Elebash, Chief Operating Officer for the CHDC, stated that because Auberge was “unable to meet their obligations in providing a luxury hotel” on the Peninsula, the project investors were forced to provide a comparable alternative per the agreement signed with the federal government.
“The financial investors, the money and the deal have not changed. That is why we pushed forward with the Mandarin Hotel in light of Auberge pulling out. We’re glad to say that there will now in fact be a second luxury hotel as part of the Christophe Harbour Development, but we are not prepared at this time to release the brand name,” Elebash said.
He then called the proposed second hotel a “vote of confidence that [the investors] are betting on the winning horse” by choosing to develop in St. Kitts.
While the original development plan of the Peninsula included placing the Auberge hotel on Sandy Bank Bay, it was not revealed if the replacement resort will be constructed in the same area or occupy another part of the sanctioned land. ~~Adz:Right~~
Shortly after it was announced that Auberge would no longer be a partner in the development, Elebash had told SKNVibes that the planned residential developments in the Sandy Bank Bay area would likely be expanded and if a hotel was built there it would be “likely be smaller in scale” than the Auberge resort would have been.
The COO also said he was pleased to note that all of the local staff hired by Auberge were brought under the wing of the CHDC rather than fired after the split.
According to the CHDC’s website, the company is on schedule with its plans to build “resort infrastructure, the home sites at Sandy Bank Bay, the Tom Fazio golf course, the Marina harbor…and the Mandarin Oriental Resort” slated to open in 2011.
