Princess unveils new waterfront project

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 14: I am here today with Mr. Chip Halquist who is representing Global Hospitality Investments (GHI) the owner of Fairmont Hamilton Princess Hotel.

Our exciting news is that the Government of Bermuda has granted in-principle support for the concept of a redevelopment plan submitted by GHI for a yacht club and additional hotel rooms. Note that the approval is for the concept only and the Company is aware that it will have to make a submission to the Development Applications Board.

The proposed project is Phase II of GHI’s investment product. Phase I was a $25M project that commenced in September 2007 just after the company purchased the property.

The project included renovations to 113 guest rooms in the Bermudiana House and refurbishment of 85 guest rooms in the main house, the Fairmont Gold Lounge, and the hotel’s restaurants.

As a result of the capital improvements in 2007, the hotel was awarded the prestigious AAA four-diamond distinction. 

Phase II, is expected to take 18-24 months to complete and comprises of an expansion of the Poinciana Wing, construction of a Yacht Club and renovations to the hotel’s swimming pools, restaurants, and fitness centre at a cost of $52M.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The expansion includes:-

• 39,000 square feet of new construction on the existing foot print includes three additional floors atop of the current Poinciana Wing of the hotel for a total of six floors

• Floors 1-3 contain 66 guestrooms that would be renovated as part of the expansion

• Floor 3 would be added to the Fairmont Gold category of the hotel’s inventory

• Floors 4-6 will be able to accommodate up to 66 additional keys configured into 33 planned hotel residences which could be put back into the hotel inventory rental pool

The Yacht Club will comprise 60-90 permanent berths based on the slip size and configuration. Its design is a floating concrete dock system designed to hurricane standards with public dock space for day docking.

Berths would also be leased to local residents and transient yachting visitors. The development is intended to include world class amenities to attract world class yacht owners.

We anticipate that the Yacht Club will expand the boating community on the island and increase awareness by promoting Bermuda in the international yacht community.

There is no doubt that business community in Hamilton will also see direct benefit from the increased boating traffic and associated visitors.  

Ladies and gentlemen,

We applaud GHI for having the vision and despite the economic down-turn the company has opted to proceed with its capital investment plans. We believe that this project will increase employment in both the hotel and construction industries and stimulate the economy through increased bed count inventory.

 GHI has aligned the positioning of the hotel with that of Bermuda to support the international business and luxury tourism market.