Pompano Beach Club has expressed interest in leasing the derelict Tudor Hill property in Southampton from the Bermuda Land Development Company (BLDC) to embark on an expansion of its cottage colony, The Royal Gazette has learned.

Manager Larry Lamb said he had communicated his ideas for development of the property on several occasions to the BLDC, a Government quango which owns the site along with the other former Baselands, but was told that it wanted to "get other projects off the ground" before deciding what to do with the site.

"It seems like at the moment (the BLDC) has no interest in doing anything with the property except sitting on it," he said.

The 25-acre property, which sits on the northern border of Pompano Beach's current property, once housed the United States Navy's top secret submarine tracking station, and has been left derelict since the military pulled out in 1995.

Mr. Lamb said, if granted the lease, the land would not only give him the opportunity to substantially expand his 11-acre cottage colony but also to protect his borders from unforeseen developments in neighbouring land. "There is a wealth of ideas about what we would do but we wouldn't do a site plan until we were given an indication that we would have a chance to do something," he said.

He said the possibilities for development included an expansion of the hotel, the development of some timeshares, or even putting a second restaurant there. But he said the BLDC, while showing interest in the scheme, had decided to "put this one on the back burner" until it had concentrated on developing its other lands at Southside.