The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of News784. Send all articles to [email protected]. By Jolly Green.
If we study how much it costs to build a decent 5 star resort hotel with all amenities it becomes obvious that what is proposed at Mount Wynne falls well short of something that is 5 star.
Should a government ignorant to all fiscal restraints, such as this current one become involved in building a resort hotel?
A typical Holiday Inn Express [in the US] with 75 to 80 rooms costs about $50,000 to $60,000 per key to build, says Verchele Mills, vice president of brand management for Holiday Inn Express. Similarly, an average Hampton Inn with 80 rooms costs, $60,000 per room. Excluding land cost.
If SVG were to build a 250 room hotel without resort amenities at the Holiday Inn standards adding 25% for an island build, $68,750 average per key, cost will be $17,187,500.00. That does not include land.
A survey conducted by “Luxury and Resort Travel” found that the top amenities in most hotels were those “en suite” or available in the room rather than on the grounds.
Because of this, we will consider the construction of a hotel with “Mid Priced” rooms, a lobby lounge, and the facilities to administer 24-hour room service. The building of hotel requires an architect or an architectural firm, a knowledgeable contractor, a team of subcontractors, and a cooperative developer/owner to get the job done in a reasonable time frame.
According to Hawkins Research, Inc., most hotel projects should use materials and techniques that fall under the “Best” classifications to keep wear and tear or replacement costs low. Such a 115 bedroom building would run at an average of $22.2 million to complete.
To build a 250 room hotel without resort amenities at the Hawkins Research standards adding 25% for an island build, $68,750 average per key. Hotel build and finish cost will be $48,260,870.00. These figures exclude land and is not a resort style development.
A 5 star resort hotel with all usual amenities, conference rooms, entertainment centre, gymnasium, pools, tennis courts and other such niceties, will cost much more. And even more than much more if built on an island where everything will need to be imported.
When built in the US Typically a 5-Star like the Marriot can go up to $300,000 USD per key. A Hilton franchise might be about $250,000 USD per key. This cost covers everything from civil works to Building Construction to Guestroom furnishing and finishing. These figures exclude the cost of the land.
To build a 250 room resort hotel on an island where everything needs to be imported will cost on an average 25% more to build than on mainland USA. An average 5 star resort hotel with all amenities will cost $343,750.00 per key, multiply that by 250 rooms and you get a cost approaching $86 million US dollars. These figures exclude architectural fees, land and are for a resort style development.
Architectural services including supervision typically cost a further 17% which will be added to those build costs.
I am not sure who the chosen architects of the project are but the favorite of the ULP is the famed Milton Mayers who used to describe himself as the Sir Christopher Wren of St Vincent and the Grenadines.
The other choice may be the RCGA Architects-Interior Designers a small nine employee firm from Queens, Jamaica, New York, USA. They designed Argyle International Airport, otherwise the Argyle Regional Airport because of its continued lack of international flights. They also specialize in designing houses-of-worship, churches.
The matter of building a hotel with a $50 million USD loan from the Taiwanese. A luxury resort and hotel with 250 rooms quite simply put cannot be built for $50 million US dollars.
Just like Argyle Airport took a seven years over-run, taking ten years and a double the cost to build than originally promised, this hotel will be double the price when completed and will be finished sometime in 2025, subject no earth tremors.
Besides everything else we need to remember the ULP government built houses at Clare Valley which fell down. Can they be trusted build even a cattle shed, let alone a hotel?
If no hotel group wants to build a resort even if the land is free, why would SVG try and build a hotel and then look for a tenant? Let’s hope that built in somewhere, there is not some corrupt practice. Because I can think of no other reason to take such a risk with tax payer’s money, this is most certainly not a coincidence.
“Yes, you see, there’s no such thing as coincidence. There are no accidents in life. Everything that happens is the result of a calculated move that leads us to where we are.”
― J.M. Darhower, Sempre: Redemption
Like the airport this is another white elephant in the making, soon we will have a herd, and no money to feed it.
