An excavator has swept away the last traces of a beach bar in St. George's to make way for the Park Hyatt hotel.

The concrete foundations of Beach It, which had operated at Fort St. Catherine for eight years, were removed by a digger last week.

However, Chris West, Beach It's former owner and manager, questioned the logic of razing the bar when the five-star resort is not scheduled to open for at least another three years.

The $294 million project which Bazarian International plans to complete by 2012, will be managed by the Park Hyatt group and is to feature 100 rooms and suites, 140 condos and 40 fractional ownership units. An 18-hole golf course designed by Nick Faldo, five restaurants and bars, tennis courts and swimming pools are also planned at the former Club Med site.

Mr. West was given a month's notice to vacate St. Catherine's Beach on May 23, but after speaking with Premier Ewart Brown his tenancy was extended until September 1.

St. George's Golf Course, with its golf shop and Mulligan's restaurant, was also closed in the summer. However, the Tobacco Bay beach bar concession and Blackbeard's Hideaway will remain in situ.

Yesterday, with the remains of his beach bar cleared away, Mr. West said: "I don't see the method of madness by taking everything down. Why take everything out?"

He pointed to construction of the new hotel yet to take place, and the volatile nature of the current credit crunch.

"The hotel will take four or five years to build, and that is if they (Bazarian International) come up with the money," he said.

"It doesn't make sense to close everything. This is killing St. George's slowly. The beach looks devastated now. It's kind of sad really."

Mr. West added: "I don't think anyone in St. George's has seen the plans for the hotel yet. I've asked the Corporation (of St. George's) but have been told they haven't seen anything either. I would have thought this would have been something the developers would have put out to the people of St. George's before they scratched the ground up to start building.

"The people of St. George's have got to speak up. Fort St. Catherine is a public beach but that could change. Is it going to go private?"

He said: "If the hotel goes ahead I think it will help St. George's, but we need to have input as to what goes there."

Mr. West said he and Beach It's assistant manager Turben Delpeche are now looking to open up a new venture in St. George's.

"Beach It was fun, we miss it," he said. "But we're going to try again and will put some bids out. We're looking for a suitable venue at the moment."

E. Michael Jones, Bazarian International's local representative, said the public will be shown the plans for the hotel once the blueprint is drawn up next year.

"The reason why the public hasn't had information is we are still in the process and there is nothing to show at the moment," he said.

"It will take months before we come up with a design for the golf course and the hotel itself."

He said following the implosion of Club Med in August, surveyors are now at work.

"We are looking at the foundations and what we have been left with, and then we will know how we are going to set the structures," he said. "They are big holes."

Mr. Jones added: "Before we go tearing down the hill we need to make sure the buildings all have the necessary views and privacy. And health and safety issues will also need to be taken into consideration. So it will be quite some months until we come to the public with what we think will work.

"Once the information is made available to the public, we will be looking for their input," he said.

The Bazarian team anticipates breaking ground at the end of 2009.

"I would think by the end of next year we would be well on our way in terms of having public support and the planning application, so we can then begin the process of digging holes in the ground," he said.

Mr. Jones said Fort St. Catherine will remain public property.

"The beach at Fort St. Catherine will remain a facility for the public to use as they have done for years. Nothing is going to change," he said.

A new restaurant and beach bar is to be built, but this will be managed by the Park Hyatt group.

"There will be a beach club, which the hotel will operate," said Mr. Jones.

"The golf course will also be available to the public, it's not going to be a private course."