Hollywood superstar Michael Douglas is to redevelop the former Ariel Sands resort.

The famed actor — whose mother Diana Dill is Bermudian — posted his plans on his Facebook page — where it fast amassed more than 40,000 likes.

He wrote: “Just returned from Bermuda, the home of my mother’s family for the last 400 years.

“The family has had a cottage colony called Ariel Sands for the past 60 years. Now we are building a new one ... very exciting.”

Mr Douglas, who part owns Ariel Sands with other members of the Dill family, has been a regular visitor to his mother’s homeland and lived here full-time with wife Catherine Zeta-Jones for several years and voted in the 2007 general election.

Relative Nicholas Dill, a former senior partner in Conyers, Dill and Pearman, whose family owned and operated the resort for six decades, said: “He was here for a meeting the other day and that was it.

“It probably will be a total rebuilding, but at the moment it’s up in the air.”

Mr Dill added: “I think he probably just wants to see the family property built back up again. I’m not sure there is any more to it than that.”

But Mr Dill agreed the redevelopment plans were a vote of confidence in the Island and its tourism industry as the country battles back from recession.

He said: “He has a great attraction for the place.

“It’s very preliminary stages at the moment — there’s really nothing I can report. He’s basically in charge of the thing, but it’s at a very early stage.”

The Dill family signalled in March last year that Ariel Sands, which shut its doors several years ago, could be reopened.

A spokesman for Ariel Sands said the resort remained closed pending redevelopment — and was not for sale.

He added: “I can say that our development partners are actually visiting Bermuda this week but cannot comment further.”

The once-exclusive Ariel Sands, in Devonshire, closed in 2007 pending redevelopment.

But a series of potential deals, including one with the Hilton hotel group, failed to get off the ground.

It had been announced in 2006 that Hilton Grand Vacation Club was to partner with Ariel Sands in a $170 million timeshare villa, spa, restaurant, conference centre and hotel development and planning permission was approved in March the following year.

A spokeswoman for the new Bermuda Tourism Authority (BTA) said night: “The BTA doesn’t have any information on this so it would not be appropriate to comment.”