Hyatt construction to begin ‘soon’

Construction of the highly-anticipated Hyatt Centric Hotel at Carlisle Bay is to begin soon, Senior Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr William Duguid announced in Parliament on Tuesday.

Although not giving a date for the start of the delayed project, he said: “I understand that the Hyatt had some setbacks with its financing but they are soon about to start the construction of the Hyatt.”

Minister Duguid offered no other details about the progress of the $175 million project which will feature 380 rooms and 40 condominium units.

He also announced that negotiations will soon start regarding the establishment of another hotel development.

“We are in negotiations deciding what we are going to do with what’s called the Legends Hotel – which is to put a hotel where Central Purchasing is now, move that to another location and build another tourism development there. Of course, we have all the other tourism developments in the Screw Dock area, Pierhead area, all the way through,” he told the House of Assembly.

Dr Duguid made the disclosures as he opened debate on a resolution to vest the Treasury Building in the Barbados Tourism Investment Inc (BTII).

He said the building, which was opened on November 22, 1967 will be transformed into a space for commercial entities, a cultural hub, as well as studio and two-bedroom apartments, as part of efforts to revitalise The City.

The senior minister said although the Treasury Building had stood the test of time, despite being situated close to Constitution River, it was no longer fit for purpose.

“As you know, in the past it was used by the Ministry of Finance and it was used by several government departments and it was used very well. A lot of internal work has been done to the Treasury Building but very little external work for the facade,” he said.

“What we also know is that if people do not live in a city, if people do not shop in a city, if people do not own a city, then the city will die. And what we are trying to do as a nation is to revitalise, to redigitise, to reimagine the City of Bridgetown. What we are trying to do is to bring back that vibrance to Bridgetown.”

In his contribution to the debate, Member of Parliament for the area Corey Lane said he was pleased residents will be the main beneficiaries of what is being proposed for the Treasury Building.

Announcing that he was putting together a task force for The City, he suggested that the island’s four towns should establish a network to help each other in the revitalisation process.

“What I want to add to that is that I have also been in communication with the city of New York with the permission of the Honourable Prime Minister [Mia Mottley] and Minister of Foreign Affairs [the Most Honourable Dr Jerome Walcott] in relation to doing a sister city initiative there.

“We plan to partner and sister with a number of cities across the world. That is how we are going to get out of the COVID pandemic and the economic worries that lay with us up to today . . . . We have started discussions and the Ministry is now drafting that first agreement because, at the end of the day, it is okay to have all these plans but it costs to care and it costs to build,” Lane said.