Par-La-Ville Hotel & Residences, the company behind the proposed St Regis hotel in Hamilton, is suing a major Chinese investment bank.The Royal Gazette can also reveal that Donal Smith is no longer with Par-La-Ville Hotel & Residences; and the new president of the company is Michael MacLean, managing director of M&M Construction.Local firm M&M worked on Rosemont City Place, the Hamptons, and major projects at the Tucker’s Point resort.Mr MacLean told us yesterday the writ has “no bearing on the current financial structure we have or the financial partners we have”.He added that the action taking place with the company and Citic will not affect the hotel being developed or push back the schedule. He declined to comment on the reason for the writ.Par-La-Ville Hotel & Residences’ US-based principal Ted Adams, of Unified Resorts, also declined to comment.The writ filed in the Bermuda Supreme Court against Hong-Kong-based Citic Securities International, a subsidiary of China’s largest listed brokerage, as such: Par-La-Ville Hotel & Residences Ltd vs Citic Securities International Company Ltd, October 10, (law firm) Conyers Dill & Pearman Ltd.Donal Smith declined to comment on the writ or reason for his departure from the company. He was its co-founder and vice-president.Some observers had expressed concerns about a conflict of interest since Mr Smith was also deputy mayor for the City of Hamilton, which owns the Par-La-Ville Road site for the proposed hotel.Tourism Minister Wayne Furbert had no comment on the matter either.Last week Hamilton Mayor Graeme Outerbridge said that developers were “meeting the obligations” of an “extended lease”. This after the previous City leaders and Mr Adams had signed new agreements and a ground lease for the Par-la-Ville site after project deadlines in the previous contracts were missed. Those agreements were said to include strict deadlines for a St Regis hotel, the specifics of which were not released. Those deadlines, though apparently expired.Mr Smith had insisted in August that financing for the Par-La-Ville project was in place, and that the project would break ground this year.The St Regis project has “in principle” planning approval to build nine storeys on the Church Street side and ten storeys on the Par-la-Ville side, with three levels of underground parking. In addition to 140 hotel rooms the luxury development was granted permission for 80 St Regis residences.Plans for a hotel at the Par-la-Ville were first announced in 2007 with Ritz Carlton attached. Starwood was named as a new partner in 2009, when it was stated the hotel would open in 2013.