timeshare property, including construction of 100 new units.

And a programme soon to be launched will allow Bermudians to use a St.

George's timeshare unit to stay in resorts around the world, St. George's Club president Mr. Alistair Woolf told The Royal Gazette .

Mr. Woolf led a group of overseas and Bermudian investors who bought the St.

George's Club earlier this year after Canadian developer York Hannover went into receivership in 1992. The deal, worth more than $4 million, freed the 69-unit resort from its crippling debt load.

Work on the new units is expected to start in January and continue in phases over ten to 12 years on eight undeveloped acres, Mr. Woolf said on Thursday.

"We have a planning application in for a revised master plan,'' said Mr.

Woolf. "We scrapped all the previous York Hannover master plans.

"We've gone from a concrete jungle of one-bedroom units to a well-laid-out plan for two-bedroom luxury units,'' Mr. Woolf said.

Like some of the newer existing units, the new cottages will have a "lock off'' feature which allows a two-bedroom cottage to be converted to a one-bedroom unit with a studio apartment which can be rented out.

While plans have not been finalised, "we will break ground with between four and eight new units,'' he said. "At the same time as the new construction starts we will do a refurbishment of the club.

"The earlier cottages built in the '80s are all fairly tired and definitely in need of refurbishment,'' Mr. Woolf said. "We'll do that in the low season.

We haven't been able to start, because the club has been full since April.'' St. George's Club holds both a timeshare licence and a hotel licence. The club offers a 25-year membership -- the longest allowed under Bermuda law. Purchase of a unit for between $5,000 and $21,500, depending on the size of the cottage and when it will be used, gives the member the right to use a particular cottage for one particular week each year for 25 years.

There is also an annual assessment charge of $600 for a one-bedroom cottage and $900 for a two-bedroom cottage. This covers insurance, land tax, and other ongoing costs, said membership consultant Mrs. Donna Moore. Like a home, the time share units can be inherited, resold, or given away.

As part of the new construction, "on a more luxurious scale we're looking to build super-luxury lock off units with private plunge pools on the terrace,'' Mr. Woolf said.

"Our market research in the States shows we'll be able to sell the luxury units with private plunge pools for between $30,000 and $40,000 for prime season for a week.'' During the life of the membership, the cottage at the St. George's Club can be used, or an exchange can be made through RCI to instead spend the week at one of 3,100 other time share resorts in 72 countries.

Under the soon-to-be-launched Bermuda Programme, Bermudians will be able to buy a low-season week in a one-bedroom cottage at St. George's for $5,000 and exchange it for stays at other resorts through RCI, Mr. Woolf said.

He believes 2,000 Bermudians own timeshares in Florida or other states, each purchased for about $15,000 plus financing charges. "We can sell them a one-bedroom week for $5,000 that they can finance for $8,000 over ten years that gives them the same rights and privileges,'' Mr. Woolf said.

"No one has ever tried this before.'' St. George's Club has 2,200 members who own about 2,800 weeks, Mrs. Moore said. That leaves about 700 weeks in the club's inventory, of which only about 200 fall in high season.

Mr. Woolf said no member lost out because of the York Hannover receivership and there are no hard feelings. A former residential developer in England and Europe, Mr. Woolf has rented his estate in the UK and taken a house in Tucker's Town. As the first owner/operator/developer of the club to live in Bermuda, he said he meets regularly with timeshare members.