The developers behind The Loren at Pink Beach have unveiled their plans for the Elbow Beach property, complete with a new hotel building overlooking South Shore.

Stephen King, co-owner of The Loren Group, said that rather than erect the new hotel on the same hillside location as the former Elbow Beach Hotel, the 75-key building would be built closer to the waterfront on an area occupied by tennis courts.

The project would come with a combination of 27 estate homes and cottage-style accommodations, with the layout designed to mirror the lower-density design that proved successful at Pink Beach.

Mr King said: “It was really taking the same kind of density that we have at Pink Beach, which was modelled on other very high-end properties around the world.

“We took this and we applied it there. That means there does need to be a certain distance between the villas. Each villa is going to be a certain size.

“If we are going to have 350 sq ft rooms, we can only have so many of them on so many floors, each with views. There has to be a lot of public space there.

“It really is, to some extent, mathematics. There is a density and there is a quality that leads to what we are doing.”

Mr King added that the design of the Paget property aimed to make the best use of the area’s hillside landscape with areas of vegetation retained.

He said: “Somebody made the comment that we were going to start by levelling it all. Oh my God, no. In fact, if you try to follow the roads that we have drawn, you will actually find that they avoid trees all the way down to the hotel and all the way back.

“What we have tried to do is design things that sit on the existing paths where the buildings are so we can preserve as much of the landscape as possible.”

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The Elbow Beach Hotel was first opened as three cottages in 1908 and developed into a local tourism landmark.

It closed its doors in 2020 because of the pandemic and went into liquidation three years later amid claims that it was massively in debt.

It was announced this year that the property had been purchased by The Loren Group, who sought to redevelop it, adopting a “one hotel, two locations” model with the site and The Loren at Pink Beach.

Mr King said it was hoped that work on the $150-$200 million redevelopment project would begin soon, with demolition works starting at the site early next year.

He said: “During the first half of next year, you will see everything removed. The civil works will then start to happen in the second or third quarter; you should see some building in the second half of the year.

“I pushed my team extremely hard for 2028 completion. In reality, it is going to be a late-2028 completion, so I think we are really going to be there for the season in 2029.”

In addition to the hotel building, referred to as the clubhouse, plans show a mix of estate homes and cottage-style accommodations on the property and new tennis courts.

Mr King said designs include a rooftop restaurant, the reopening of Mickeys, a food truck to tempt beachgoers and work to improve the public access to Elbow Beach.

He said: “There are no bathrooms down there. Those stairs look dilapidated.

“There are some basic things that we can do. Maybe from time to time in the higher parts of the season we can provide some simple beach services down there.”

Mr King said that in addition to construction jobs, there are hopes that The Loren at Elbow Beach would create more than 150 new jobs.

He added: “As far as we are concerned, it is in our interests to employ as many Bermudians as possible. We have a high percentage of Bermudians. I think there are plenty of opportunities.”

Mr King said that he believed the Pink Beach and Elbow Beach resorts would complement each other well with a diverse set of amenities available to guests, adding that shuttles — or even a boat service — could help transport guests between the two sites.

He said: “There are a lot of things that you can do. Bermuda is beautiful, and it really isn’t a bad drive going from here to there. It’s beautiful coastline all the way, so I think it can work.”

He said the Elbow Beach site hotel would feature smaller rooms that Pink Beach, but the site’s proximity to Hamilton would be an asset for business travellers interested in a “Loren experience”.

Asked about the potential impact of the reopening of the Fairmont Southampton, Mr King said he was optimistic that the additional hotel inventory would serve to help the industry overall.

He said: “The island needs the lift. Maybe that will mean there are more flights to and from the eastern seaboard, and I think that is good for the island. We are perfectly happy with that.”