1 week Ago By Maria Bradshaw
Six years after Government refused to bend to the concession demands of the Sandals conglomerate, the hotel project at Heywoods, St Peter, which stood idle for many years, is finally getting off the ground. Construction started a few weeks ago with demolition of the existing structures to make way for the $450 million, state-of-the-art resort on the site of the old Almond Beach Village. Sandals’ public relations manager David Hinds told the Weekend Nation that it will be known as Beaches Barbados.
“Joining existing sister properties Sandals Barbados and Sandals Royal Barbados, Beaches Barbados will open as the inaugural Beaches on the island. “Breaking ground in late 2025, the new resort will offer 600 rooms – from king suites and two queen designs to nearly 3 000-square-foot, four-bedroom suites complete with a private ocean-front balcony. The resort will feature a dedicated ‘Main Street’ – a winding resort centre with dining and shopping opportunities, as well as family zones from outdoor performance stages to a modern sports bar and arcade,” he stated.
While Sandals spent thousands of dollars rebuilding the beach outside the hotel and installing a new jetty, construction of the hotel has remained in limbo for the past six years after Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley announced that Sandals was demanding more concessions than what it had already received under the previous Democratic Labour Party administration for construction of the hotel and Government would not be facilitating it. She stated that Government and Sandals had “reached a difficult moment in the negotiations that may result in the project being stalled or pulled”. “Sandals, however, wanted and continues to want an even greater level of assurances and guarantees than they have already received, assurances and guarantees that the Government of Barbados would indemnify them if any future Parliament were ever to tax them or the industry for any goods or services.
Essentially to make total the range of protection the group will enjoy against any possibility of future taxation from a Barbadian Government in the next 40 years.” She added: “We are running a country, not a company. Thus we cannot play fast and loose with the future of this country .
. . .
We worked hard to make this Beaches project a reality, but this we cannot give in to Sandals’ request. We cannot agree to this incursion into the powers of our Parliament that would be circumscribed unless the Government of Barbados compensates and makes them whole. This would be unfair to the Government and people of Barbados.
” However, in announcing the new hotel, Adam Stewart, executive chairman of Sandals, thanked Mottley “for her support in bringing the project to fruition”, as he noted that it would be beneficial to Barbados’ tourism sector and the economy. He said the resort chain, which was founded by his father Gordon “Butch” Stewart who passed away in 2022, was set to create 3 500 jobs with its three hotels in Barbados making Sandals the largest hotel investor in the country. Stewart told the media last February while attending the 48th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM in Barbados: “Demolition will start this coming Monday (March 3).
So, I have had a number of meetings with Prime Minister Mottley. The property overall is a Beaches family brand. It is 1.
2 million square feet, 600 keys, three four-bedroom villas. It will be the best of what Sandals has ever put forward as a family holiday, all done in Barbados to a timeless elegance, absolutely beautiful. The project is moving.
” He added: “It will . . .
have in excess of 1 800 to 2 000 guests every week on property. So, Barbados has come a long way and it is amazing for us to help build a tourism infrastructure here and continue to see the demand that Barbados has in the marketplace.” Sandals bought the property after Almond Beach Village closed in 2012.
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