A bill ushering in a multimillion dollar luxury resort in St. George's was approved in the Senate yesterday — as long as the lease is tabled in both houses.

The Senate met yesterday in a special session to pass the Park Hyatt (St. George's) Resort Act 2008 which will now give Carl Bazarian of Bazarian International the green light to develop the former Club Med land.

Current plans for the hotel, which must be built in five years according to the bill passed yesterday, is expected to cost around $294 million.

It will include 100 hotel rooms, 80 rooms that condominium owners can lease to visitors and 30 fractional ownership units.

There was concern raised in the House of Assembly on Friday about the bill, because the entire lease had not been made public, the 131 year lease for the hotel grounds and 262 year lease for the condominium site was too long.

And after further debate in the Senate on making the lease public, and Opposition Senator Michael Dunkley proposing two amendments to this cause, he changed track in Committee as long as the document was made public.

He said: "I will withdraw the amendment if they (the Government) will table the lease in both houses. Not for anything else, but to table the lease."

Independent Senator Alf Oughton seconded this decision saying he was concerned about how the amendments would delay the bill and the development.

"I was concerned about the amendments, but we also needed some assurance that the lease could be tabled somewhere so people can take a look at it," he said.

The chairman of the Committee Walwyn Hughes said: "If you had access to information, I think that's something you could ask to see.

"In fact it's appropriate to see it; maybe not to debate it but to see it. That sounds like a positive proposal and Senator Burch has agreed to this."

Before the agreement, Attorney General and Senator Kim Wilson explained that the clauses included in the bill explaining the lease were the significant ones which answered where, when and for how long.

She said: "With respect the majority of people that enter into a lease want to know how much, where and for how long. These are clearly set out in the body of legislation.

"The principle terms are included in the body."

And Senator David Burch argued that including the amendments proposed by Sen. Dunkley would only have served to delay the development sorely needed by St. George's.

"I would be surprised if people didn't have concerns about this legislation because it's a road we haven't been down before. But we have not got this close before," he said.

"Bazarian is one of the few people and the current climate committed to stick to it.

"If we are letting our concerns stop us today, essentially what we are saying is that St. George's isn't getting a hotel."

However, with Sen. Dunkley's agreement to drop the amendments and agree to pass the bill providing it is tabled in both the Senate and House of Assembly, the bill passed.

Also passed yesterday in the Senate was the lease for 120 years on the land forming the St. George's Club to the St. G. Club Ltd., which now comprises of 11.77 acres and rents for $200,000 a year.