Developers Desarrollos have been given an extra 60 days to finalise their plans to build a luxury brand hotel on the old Club Med site in St George’s

The initial exclusive negotiation period between Government and the Desarrollos Hotelco Group (DHG) expired on October 8, and has now been extended to December 13.

Yesterday Transport and Tourism Development Minister, Shawn Crockwell, revealed that the developer has chosen Starwood as their luxury brand partner.

And he told The Royal Gazette that he remained confident that ground would be broken on the eagerly awaited project in the first half of 2015.

“On May 23, 2014 I announced that the Bermuda Government entered into an exclusive negotiation period with international resort hotel developer Desarrollos Hotelco Group to construct a world class full service resort on the St George’s Tourism Development site,” Mr Crockwell said.

“The exclusivity period commenced on 9th June, 2014 and expired on 8th October, 2014.

“Over the course of the 120-day exclusivity period we have made steady progress working through our terms of reference, and DHG are currently fully engrossed in the due diligence process with Starwood, their preferred high end luxury brand partner for this project.

Mr Crockwell said that the move to provide developers with an extension was “not uncommon” practice and welcomed the news that DHG had partnered with Starwood.

“Starwood is a major global hotel and resort company that operates a number of luxury marquee brands including the iconic St Regis, Le Meridian, and the Luxury Collection brands,” he said.

“In an effort to ensure we maintain and continue progress the Government has extended the exclusivity period for a further 60 days that will expire on December 13, 2014.

“The primary objectives during the extension period are the finalising of the brand agreement and the approval of pre-development, development and operation commencement critical path items.”