Property developer West Hamilton Holdings has been granted planning permission to build a fitness centre and apartments on the site of an old bakery building on the city’s Pitts Bay Road

And West Hamilton Holdings chairman Michael Collier said last night that it was hoped work on the site could begin as early as the summer.

Mr Collier added that the development was “a vote of confidence in Bermuda and in that end of Hamilton.”

And he said that the area — which has seen the opening of the new Waterloo House office and residential block and is near the Hamilton Princess, which is to undergo a multimillion dollar revamp — was full of potential.

He added: “We can see opportunities and confidence in that area and for Bermuda as a whole.

“A lot of people in business today would say they would rather be in the west of Hamilton and that the area from Par la Ville Road to the Hamilton Princess is a highly focused and desirable area that businesses want to be in.”

He was speaking after work on the site was backed by the Development Applications Board (DAB), subject to conditions.

A conservation management plan will have to submitted, while parking spaces for 21 cars and 19 motorcycles will have to be built into the site.

Work at the site — next to the existing Belvedere Building — will involve cutting into an existing rock face to create the new block.

The report to the DAB said: “The board had no major concerns with this application however much discussion took place regarding the concerns raised in an objection received from the landowner of the parcel of land to the immediate north of the site, which is situated at a higher elevation.

“The technical officer confirmed that the proposed new development was set back 35 feet from the shared lot line and that only approximately 22 feet of the new building would project above the rock cut to the north.

“Further, the technical officer confirmed that the existing vegetation within the woodland reserve zoning at the top of the existing rock cut would aid in mitigating the visual impact.”

The DAB board minutes added that concern had been raised about the design of the building and its height in relation to the adjacent Bacardi HQ — an iconic structure designed by world-famous architect Mies van der Rohe.

But the DAB report said: “The technical officer indicated that the Architectural Advisory Panel, who were consulted as part of the assessment, considered that the proposed building complimented the Bacardi building well.”

And the report added that the proposal was within the height requirements and was in line with the zoning regulations for the site.

Conditions for approval included a start on work within two years of the application being approved and that the firm submit a separate application for a building permit before work begins.