The CEO of luxury hotel chain Jumeirah, Gerald Lawless, flew in from Dubai to attend a public engagement with Premier Ewart Brown to reveal more of the plans for Southlands last week.Bermuda appears set to join a highly exclusive club with a Jumeirah hotel resort of breathtaking scope and ambition proposed for the 37-acre Southlands Estate.

But as exciting as the prospect of attracting the operators of the Burj al Arab hotel in Dubai, the so-called “world’s only seven star hotel” is, there are many with concerns about what it means for Bermuda.

More than 100 objectors lodged letters at the planning department after news of the scheme became public shortly after Christmas. There are fears a secret natural treasure of Bermuda will be destroyed by building a 300-plus suite hotel resort with fractional ownership units at Southlands.

Jumeirah has signed to operate the new hotel for 20 years with an option to extend the deal until the middle of the century.

Everything awaits the outcome of a special development order application, currently being considered by Environment Minister Neletha Butterfield. If the SDO is granted it will shortcut the normal planning process and allow development to get underway.

Craig Christensen, together with fellow businessmen Brian Duperrault and Nelson Hunt, heads Southlands Limited as owners of the estate.

He has become the public face of Southlands Limited. As he toured the estate he told The Royal Gazette <$>about the excitement he and his fellow developers feel for the project and their determination to be responsible custodians of the magical setting, not only for today but so that future generations might also be able to enjoy its uniqueness.

What was it like in 2005 when he and the others first visited Southlands and found a mostly impenetrable ‘jungle’ that hid long-neglected quarry gardens created by James Morgan in the early 20th century? “It was amazing, even more so to find all the secret gardens. Coming up here with Nelson and Brian we felt like Indiana Jones. You did not know what you were going to discover next,” he said.

“I remember Brian saying ‘this is unbelievable, we have got to turn around and preserve this’. It is a passion of all three owners that we must do the right things. You would just hate to see something like this cut up into another residential programme. This is too special. Why should we not have our tourists and people enjoy this and open it back up?”

Building houses was a consideration but it was quickly dismissed.

“We saw the option for houses but it was not one we wanted to follow. Once you have walked this property a few times you come to realise that it is more important to preserve this site than to build it out,” said Mr. Christensen.

Over the past year a team of workers has been slowly and carefully cutting back some of the undergrowth to reveal the folly-esque quarry gardens and intricate touches created by Mr. Morgan after he purchased the estate in 1910.

Stone was quarried during the 19th century for building material that was used to create the city of Hamilton. The remains of the quarries were incorporated into a fascinating series of gardens after 1910 by Mr. Morgan. He died in 1932 and along with his wife was buried in a tomb on the estate.

The grotto-like tomb remains a feature, although it has been broken into over the years. It will be restored to its former glory as work to rejuvenate the gardens progresses, said Mr. Christensen.

“We have pictures from 1932 of the day James Morgan was buried here. There was a cedar bench here and the Lady Palms were in the corner and they are still here, we will restore it and clean it back to the way it was in 1932 in the picture.”

Mr. Christensen and the other developers are aware of the concerns about developing the site, even though many people have never been on the estate to see what exists. Until the mid-1970s it was a manicured botanical garden-like setting where people could enjoy days out and marvel at the quarry gardens and varied species of plants and trees planted over the previous century. During the last 30 years the estate fell into a state of neglect.

Most people have seen no more than the entrance from South Road, guarded by five giant banyan trees and their forest of aerial roots stretching to the ground.

“A lot of people have never been up here to see this because they were frightened away by the banyan trees. A lot of people think the place is haunted — I would not say it is haunted, but it is spiritual,” said Mr. Christensen.

It is intended to preserve the banyan trees, creating a quiet pathway walk without traffic so visitors can contemplate them in peaceful surroundings. A row of seven towering royal palms nearby will also be preserved, as will the quarry gardens within the woodland reserve hinterland.Jumeirah CEO Mr. Lawless agrees the gardens and other pieces of natural beauty should be preserved, said Mr. Christensen.It is envisaged there will be two main hotel buildings, one overlooking the south shore and one further back, north of South Road but standing in front of the present Manor House, which will be preserved and possibly become a restaurant and partial Southlands museum.

“There will be a stone quarry museum on the site showing Bermuda’s history. You realise this is the right thing to do. Mr. Lawless said keeping the quarry gardens will make the resort truly special. He said the resort is spectacular in and of itself, but with all of these gardens and stuff it is mind-blowing so it takes it into another world because most resorts don’t have much of a history.”

Mr. Christensen’s daughter Michelle has overseen much of the cataloguing of the estate’s treasures — man-made and natural — and vows that, with her own environmental concerns, she will not allow any harm to come to the banyan trees or other special features>Regarding the special development order, which will effectively allow the mixing and matching of various zoning on the site to allow a tourism project to go ahead, Mr. Christensen pointed out what exists at present is hardly ideal. “Look at the banyan trees, only the eastern part of the trees are preserved which is ridiculous. Responsible people do responsible things. We have to keep the banyan trees because they are so special — but they are not protected. You could knock half the banyan trees down, but responsible people would never do that. My children would turn around and hang me from those trees if we did.”Another controversial aspect of the scheme is the creation of a land-bridge over South Road, which will have the effect of putting the road into a tunnel, albeit one with two holes above to let in natural light and allow vegetation to overhang.

“Physically you could not build the size of resort you need to attract a five-star operator on one side of the road. In phase one we are creating the intensity on the southern side and then you come back to the main core resort up here (by the Manor House),” said Mr. Christensen.

“To attract a major five-star operator you need to have something of size to make it their worthwhile to operate. One of the things the hotel operators said was that unless there is a connectivity to the beach they were not interested. Fairmont Southampton has a tunnel, but that would not suffice with a five-star image so that’s why we went to look at how we can create the connectivity.

“We searched from tunnel to bridge to now a land bridge and being sensitive to Bermudians in terms of access, walkways and light in the tunnel. It is going to be 14ft higher than the requirements in the US. It will be quite wide and there will be features in it because it is going to be the entrance to our property, so it has to be spectacular and nice and makes you go ‘wow’ as you go through it.”

Aren’t ordinary Bermudians going to be denied their view of the south shore, or of accessing the woodland and quarry gardens?

“When we build the resort they will be able to come and enjoy the beach view. They have never been able to do before. They will enjoy the views and amenities there and up on the hillside. People can come and have lunch and enjoy a walk up the hillside,” replied Mr. Christensen.

Designs for the first phase of the scheme on the coastline have been criticised for showing a virtual wall of concrete needed to protect the cliffs from erosion.

Mr. Christensen said: “If you read the foreshore protection planning document they have called for foreshore protection. What you do is you create a rounded area at the base of the cliff so the wave action comes up. It takes the impact away.

“The sensitivity is to create rock cuts like in the gardens throughout the property and included inside the land bridge, we want to have that natural stone look. We are highly sensitive to it because there is so much history steeped back in the quarries and want to carry this through the whole property. Having a concrete wall out here on the front would be distasteful and unattractive so we have to make it look like natural rock.”

He agrees the hotel will be “un-Bermudian” in design, but the individual fractional units further up the hillside will be much more Bermuda stylised.

To those who have spoken publicly about their belief that their childhood memories of Southlands are about to be destroyed, Mr. Christensen said: “We are preserving the fond memories that they actually have. We will be reaching out to the public to get the pictures and memories that people have and keep them as a permanent record. Those that remember the main house, well the main house stays, the beach stays, the quarry gardens stay, the banyan trees stay, all those special things they talk about stay. I hope these people come back and see that we have moved on but have preserved all the wonderful things they remember.”

He and his fellow co-owners are aware of public concern. He said: “I understand them. I’m glad people stand up in Bermuda and want to be heard because otherwise people would build anywhere. When I come back from Florida I look around the Island and I’m proud at how we have managed our development. So we are very sensitive to what we are doing. I have to walk down the street and I do not want to be criticised for what I’ve done.”

Becoming a hotel developer is not something he foresaw happening. He said: “I would call it some form of destiny.

“I talked to Nelson about it, that maybe James Morgan turned around and wanted us to be a part of this property and somehow is guiding us. Nelson and myself have been friends all our lives. Then we brought Brian Duperreault into the project. It comes with a huge responsibility. You look at this property, you see that it is something that you have to be responsible for. Whatever you do here will go on into the next century and maybe forever.”