The owner of Sonesta Beach Hotel insists the landmark property should be open on May 1, even though there is still major work to be done following Hurricane Fabian.

Clifford Schorer said he has applied for permission to knock down the west wing of the structure with the loss of 80 rooms and use the area in the meantime for weddings and outdoor receptions.

He said he wants to restore the same number of rooms to the hotel's inventory, but has not decided yet how to do it because his long-term plans are to completely demolish the main Sonesta building.

“We are still aiming for May 1 and we are optimistic. We are waiting for a number of permits and some immigration issues,” he told The Royal Gazette yesterday.

There is no sign of major construction work on the site and many of the rooms are open to the elements with tarpaulin hanging off the roof at the restaurant.

But Mr. Schorer said: “There has been a tremendous amount of construction work. Mechanical, electrical and plumbing work has been completely planned and ordered.

“All of that equipment will be shortly in, and that was the longest lead-up time.

“The windows will be in on the 23rd of this month, which have a six-week lead time, so the long lead time items (will be) on site, and that was the real threat.

“We should be in good shape. We are going to have some residual issues, primarily landscaping as we have a small window in April.”

Referring to his demolition plans, he said: “The only part that will be closed will be the western part of the Carlton building that we intend to take down, and we are waiting for demolition permits.

“We want to re-grade it for an outdoor recreation area for weddings until we can reconfigure it.

“We would like to replace the hotel room inventory we are losing, but we can't do that in that time.

“We have to figure out how to reconfigure that spot. Everyone wants to change the architecture of the hotel and this gives us a great opportunity.”

A member of staff at Sonesta called The Royal Gazette this week saying workers had been kept in the dark about plans for the hotel and some are considering looking for new jobs because they can't be sure they will be working in May.

“Staff have not been told anything and we just want to know what is going on,” said the member of staff.

“We want to know if construction has started and if we will be opening in May, just to be fair to us.”