CHRISTIANSTED, US Virgin Islands (Reuters) - From the top of Recovery Hill, thick brush gives way to views of St. Croix's northern coast and largest city, where waterfront cafes and bobbing sailboats line the aquamarine sea.

It's easy to see why billionaire Allen Stanford chose to live here.

The Texas financier at the centre of a multi-billion dollar US fraud charge owns several residential tracts in this largely undeveloped area just outside Christiansted.

A neighbour is worried that its owner's latest troubles may permanently kill off the project, along with other investments Stanford has on St. Croix, the largest of the three main US Virgin Islands.

"He came to the islands, bought property and employed people," said the woman, who asked to remain anonymous. "Now this has taken the wind out of our sails."

Stanford, 58, has been charged by the US Securities and Exchange Commission with fraudulently selling $8 billion in certificates of deposit with improbably high interest rates from his Stanford International Bank in Antigua.

On the other side of the 84-square-mile (218-square-km) island, construction on Stanford's massive business complex, which was intended to serve as headquarters for support functions of his financial empire, also seems to be stalled.

At one edge of the 37-acre parcel on the southwest corner of the Henry E. Rohlsen International Airport, metal beams were stacked and a backhoe sat parked beside a field of swaying guinea grass.

Plans for the St. Croix campus next to the tarmac include 105,000 square feet of office space incorporating architural and design elements of St. Croix's "Danish West Indian style" — a nod the territory's days as a Danish colony.

Also in the plan is a conference centre to accommodate more than 200 people, a 45,000-square foot aviation hangar and office, a food pavilion and lounge area for staff and guests.

Stanford had also planned to establish on St. Croix the offices for his Stanford Twenty20 Cricket Tournament.