Bermuda Resorts Hotels (BRH) - which owns three Island properties - will be managing the former White Sands Hotel when it re-opens in June, The Royal Gazette has learned.

And BRH owner Naval Mehra has bought into the former White Sands, which will open up again as the Grape Bay Beach Hotel.

Guests booking in at Grape Bay Beach Hotel will be able to use the facilities and restaurants of the other hotels in the BRH group - Harmony Club, Surf Side Beach Club, and the Wharf Executive Hotel.

Through his company Nam International, Mr. Mehra, who is based in the United States, has become a partner along with Bermudian businessman Jeff Amaral and two others in Grape Bay Beach.

White Sands closed in March last year, leaving angry staff without wages, after Bank of N.T. Butterfield called in the receivers when former owner, American businessman James Dwyer, failed to keep up with loan repayments.

The 33-bedroom hotel in Paget will feature a new poolside restaurant and entrance, and plans are in place for a gym in the future, said BRH President Billy Griffith yesterday.

He said he had been in the United Kingdom and US recently promoting the four hotels, and a full scale public relations blitz will begin when the opening date is finalised.

Mr. Mehra said yesterday: "Guests will be able to experience the beaches (at Surf Side and Grape Bay) and the equipment of the four hotels if they wish. We now have 300 beds to offer and we can make good deals with the airlines and for golf trips."

Mr. Griffith said he hadn't started interviewing staff yet because an opening date had not yet been finalised.

Mr. Amaral, the owner and developer of Palmetto Palms condominium development in Flatts, announced earlier this year that he had bought White Sands.

He incorporated Grape Bay Beach Hotel limited last year with Adriana Kripl and John Stephen Sands to buy and run the hotel on South Shore.