stalled Morgan's Point resort, The Royal Gazette has learned.

And if the negotiations are successful, West Group Management, LLC, an office development company based in McLean, Virginia, will go ahead with the $290-million project within six months.

The company is described as a full-service real estate development and property management firm with 150 employees, according to the Fairfax County, Virginia business database.

The company has been operating for the past 35 years developing and managing commercial office, retail, hotel, resort, industrial and residential projects.

The firm is heavily involved in development in the nearby Tysons Corner area, the 17th largest office market in the US. The group was involved in the development of the corporate headquarters of the Federal Deposit Management Corporation (known as Freddie Mac), Visa's East Coast operations centre, and Mitre Corp's Washington Centre.

The company is also developing two office buildings with a total of 300,000 square feet of office space scheduled for completion this year. The 220,000 square foot Fairfax Building is scheduled to be completed by the end of this quarter.

Tysons Corner is midway between Washington's Dulles Airport and Reagan National Airport.

West Group chief executive officer Gerald Halpin did not return a telephone call yesterday. A Bermuda Land Development Co. Ltd. (BLDC) spokesman declined to comment.

The BLDC and Government have so far remained tightlipped about the unnamed partner they were negotiating with to develop Morgan's Point, a 250-acre site left by the US Navy.

The project has been on hold for two years after Morgan's Harbour Investment Ltd. failed to secure financing after winning a bid to develop the site.

The Royal Gazette understands the West Group plans on sticking with the original concept of a championship golf course, a 200-bed cottage colony, a village centre, a marina, and 318 residential units. Morgan's Harbour was formed by UK-based Renaissance Resorts International.

The West Group has been meeting with key Government Ministers over the past few weeks before the firm will commit to the project. The negotiations revolve around getting guarantees about such issues as liability for environmental cleanup and the provision of ferry links to the site.

Before committing to the project the West Group wants assurances that its risk from waste oil dumped at the site by the US Navy will be limited if problems are later encountered. The financiers want a cap on the amount of liability they could face from any pollution remaining at the site.

The implication is that Government will then be on the hook for any potential liability in the future. The financier needs the assurance before it can bring in other backers. The developer will have to spend millions of dollars cleaning up and reshaping the site before building can go ahead.

If negotiations are successful, the financiers are set to begin the project in six months after a formal development agreement is signed.