The five-star resort that will be built on the site of the former Wyndham hotel will resemble "a Bermudian village", according its American developers.

On a tour of the 32-acre South Shore site in Southampton this week, a team from New York-based Scout Real Estate Capital spelled out their plans for the $300-million development.

"We want to move away from the big, old-style hotel building of 30 or 40 years ago," Kevin Fox, Scout's chief development officer, said. "We want this to have the look of a Bermudian village."

Mr. Fox explained that the concept was to spread small buildings across the site, around a central plaza, making the development "very residential in look and feel".

The units will be built in a Bermudian architectural style and the developers have worked with local architectural services firms, including Conyers & Associates, Cooper & Gardner and The Studio, to help to create their vision.

"We've been spending a lot of time in St. George's, photgraphing various structures, so we can refine our ideas to create something that we hope will look like it belongs here," Mr. Fox said.

Part of the planning process will involve holding 'charrettes' — intensive, multi-day meetings in which designers and others involved in the project focus on coming up with plans that are practical, as well as aesthetically pleasing.

Mr. Fox estimated the development would take three-and-a-half years, meaning an estimated completion date in the summer of 2011. The company intends to be ready to submit preliminary plans to the Planning Department soon.

At full capacity, the new Southampton Beach Resort will hold between 300 and 400 guests, Mr. Fox estimated, and will boast retsuarants, a spa, a fitness centre, a specialised conference centre and meeting facilities. Bermuda firm Island Construction is working on the demolition of the old hotel, while Bermuda Water Consultants, BNB Fiber-tech and Entech Engineering also have parts to play in the massive scheme.

An added challenge to the demolition work is that a small amount of asbestos is present in some of the buildings. Abatement of the carcinogenic material will be carried out as required by Health and Safety regulations.

Also among the Scout visiting delegation was John Allison, recruited two weeks ago by the company to serve as its chairman of hotels.

Previously Mr. Allison was chief financial officer of Kerzner International, a global developer and operator of resorts, casinos and luxury hotels, including the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas.

Scout, which acquired the Bermuda site in 2006 with backing from New York-based financiers Lehman Brothers, is hoping Mr. Allison's two decades of experience in the hotel industry and its financing will help to ensure the project's smooth progression.

Mr. Allison, a Chartered Accountant, said Bermuda's future in tourism depended on the Island becoming more proactive in selling itself to the world — and particularly the US eastern seaboard — as a destination.

"Bermuda has got to appeal to the New York and Boston area, especially," Mr. Allison said. "It's an easy place to get to and the most important thing.

"Bermuda's not as warm as the Caribbean, so it's got to appeal differently. And what will appeal to Americans right now is safety of the family on vacation — that is a huge issue world-wide.

"But from what I've seen, there has been very little promotion of Bermuda in the media over the past 10 years," added Mr. Allison, who lives in Florida. "The Island came over really well on television during the PGA Grand Slam of Golf last year and that needs to be followed up with more of the same, because Bermuda, for a lot of people, has been off the radar screen.

"You can have a great destination, but it's true for everybody who wants to beef up their tourism that you have to promote the place to get the people here."

Mr. Allison was confident that a high-end destination like the Southampton Beach Resort could thrive, even if the expected slowdown in the global economy were to continue well into the future.

"If you look at the hotel industry in the last few years, the demand for high-end rooms has not really faltered," he said. "It's the middle market that really reacts to what's going on in the world. The top end is not so vulnerable."

Scout's other properties and investments include The Harbor View Hotel & Resort and The Kelley House on Martha's Vineyard and various properties totalling 6,000 acres on the Big Island in Hawaii.