Bermuda will have a new $100 million cottage colony on the former Lantana resort in three years.

Yesterday developer Kevin Petty took The Royal Gazette for a tour of the 9.4 acre Somerset property and explained why he is confident that the 28-unit mixed use resort will materialise.

It is one of two properties his company Moongate Resorts Ltd. has been hired to develop and manage. The other is Munro Beach Cottages. (See story this page.)

Over the past five years Mr. Petty said his company has met with many prospective hotel developers who have come in with big dreams and seek his advice as one of the few men who have actually built a hotel in the last two decades.

Often the meetings lead to nothing, but this time around a partnership with Lawrence Doyle evolved.

Mr. Doyle, a US hedge fund owner, arrived in Dockyard on a cruise ship three years ago with his mother and stumbled across the overgrown Lantana property after renting a scooter to explore the Island.

Amid the dense foliage were the remains of Bermuda's first cottage colony, started in the 1950s.

Mr. Doyle spent the afternoon looking around the property, closed in 1998, which despite the neglected landscape still had dinner tables set for tea service.

That day Mr. Doyle fell back in love with the Island he had visited in his youth and decided he needed to own the Somerset property and restore it to an "ultra-luxury" cottage colony.

Soon after he met Mr. Petty and asked for advice, like the many who came before and after him.

Six months after their initial meeting Mr. Doyle returned with the deed for the 9.4-acre property in hand and said he wanted Mr. Petty's company to manage the construction of the resort and manage it.

"Larry, he is the real deal," Mr. Petty said yesterday. "We've had approval from Cabinet and they grilled him. They wanted to know where the money would come from and what the plans were."

Next week Moongate Resorts will submit their plans for a 28-unit cottage colony with a swimming pool, waterfront restaurant, croquet lawn and conference rooms.

"We've definitely learnt from our mistakes," Clarence Hofheins, Managing Director of Newstead Belmont Hills, said. "We know now that it is important to get the Planning Department in at an early stage, before you even submit the plans. Everyone at Planning has been very helpful. It is a process, but we are optimistic."

Mr. Petty added: "We have also found that this time around the construction companies are more hungry. It used to be that subcontractors were almost a monopoly, but now we have found we can have more control over the process."

And in April they will be holding an open house to unveil the plans for the resort. The team is confident they will be able to secure financing for construction of the resort.

"We have spoken with the banks and they seem optimistic," Mr. Petty said. "And unlike other developments we're not looking for upwards of $300 million, this is a smaller development."

The Royal Gazette took a tour of the property yesterday with Mr. Petty, Mr. Hofheins and General Manger of Newstead Belmont Hills Bushara Bushara. The team hopes to keep the original charm of the property intact while creating cottages awash with features now considered standard practice, such as Wi-Fi for Internet and privacy.

Artist renderings of the proposed development show traditional Bermuda architecture surrounded by lush vegetation.

"In Bermuda it is all about the experience," Mr. Bushara said. "We want to keep the old feel, what Lantana was known for, but improve on it and update it."

Clearing the buildings and overgrowth started in December last year. All the endemic plants have been kept in place as have the butteries scattered across the property, original pathways and some Bermudian walls. The rest will be demolished in the coming weeks, apart from one of the cottages, which will be used as a sales office.