Kiawah Development Partners part of group planning St. Kitts resort
Kiawah Development Partners is going offshore again for its next major real
estate project.
This time, the company is part of a group planning to build a $500 million
to $600 million luxury getaway on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts.
The property — dubbed the St. Kitts Peninsula Resort — would include a
marina, a golf course, three hotels and an undetermined number of high-end
condominiums, said Kiawah Development spokeswoman Karen Bacot.
"It's been sort of bubbling for a while," Bacot said. "Nothing's signed or
final yet."
Kiawah Development handles most of the private real estate development and
owns two private golf courses on Kiawah Island. Its most recent major
undertaking was the acclaimed Doonbeg Golf Club in Ireland's County Clare.
On the Leeward Islands project, Kiawah Development is teaming up with J.B.
Tubridy, a St. Kitts businessman, and Auberge Resorts, a private
California-based owner of three resorts in California and the Inn at
Palmetto Bluff near Hilton Head Island.
The three partners have been negotiating to buy a 2,700-acre peninsula on
the southeast section of the island for about a year. The site is bounded by
miles of coast along the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The property
is privately held, but the St. Kitts and Nevis government is organizing the
current owners to sell their holdings simultaneously.
St. Kitts is small — 69 square miles — and tourism has only recently
overtaken agriculture as it's No. 1 industry. The island which is east of
Puerto Rico, has welcomed about 350,000 annual
visitors in recent years, according to U.S. government figures.
"They're obviously trying to shift from a sugar-based economy to a
tourism-based economy," Bacot said. The developers hope to close a deal on
the land by August, but they are still working out the details of their
partnership.
In a recent statement, the island government's Cabinet of Ministers said it
"reaffirmed its strong support for the project, considering the enormous
benefits it would bring for employment opportunities and general economic
activity."
Meanwhile, Kiawah Development is hammering out agreements with several
international hotel companies and celebrated golf course architect Tom Fazio,
who has designed several Lowcountry layouts.
The three firms also have formed a nonprofit group, the St. Kitts
Foundation, to clean up trash from the surrounding reef, fix runoff problems
and eventually address the ecological impact of their building plans.
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