When a group of Irish investors, including Dermot Desmond, John Magnier and J.P. McManus, bought the exclusive Sandy Lane Hotel in Barbados, West Indies in 1997 for £38 million sterling and embarked on ambitious plans to demolish the hotel and build a world-class golf resort, people wondered how they would recoup their investment. Four years later with costs exceeding £220 million and a resort that has grown from 380 acres to 830 acres, the investment may be about to pay off.
They will soon bring to the market 110 one and two-acre sites with price tags in the region of US $3 million. The sites will also include membership to the Tom Fazio-designed private golf club, the Green Monkey. Work on the course is well advanced and expected to be completed in November 2002. The hotel has reopened and is back in business with 112 bedrooms, a 30,000 sq ft spa and no less than three golf courses. Work on the hotel took longer than anticipated; following a number of setbacks, it finally opened last spring. The official opening will take place in December with Tiger Woods doing the honours. At the peak of construction, 1,400 people from 40 countries worked on the site.
Galway man Colm Hannon, general manager of the hotel, worked at Sandy Lane before it closed. During the construction period he was very involved in all aspects of the redesign. Now, however, he is delighted to "get back into the hotel business and do what I love doing best. Timing is excellent with the return of Concorde; on some days 50-60 per cent of passengers are coming to Sandy Lane."
Sandy Lane, built in 1961 as a winter retreat for the British aristocracy, now attracts a wide range of nationalities. Donatella Versace was a recent visitor, Pavarotti will spend some time at the resort in the new year and the Smurfit and Dunne families are known to have spent time at the hotel. The Irish now make up 10 per cent of guests but only the wealthiest need apply - standard room rates start at around $600 in low season and rise to a staggering $1800 a night at Christmas and New Year. A suite will cost $2300 in low season and $2800 in high season - per night.
The big attraction for many is the abundance of golf facilities. Previous to its purchase, Sandy Lane had only one golf course. Now it will have three; the nine-hole Old Course, the Country Club and the Green Monkey. The finishing touches are being put to the new clubhouse that will be completed by next month, in time for high season when guests will able to enjoy a round for $220. This will include golf carts with video screens that allow players to order drinks from the clubhouse at any time. The Green Monkey course is under construction and will run over an old quarry and lake towards the blue Caribbean Sea. The course will be totally private to the owners of the 110 properties surrounding it.
Clarence Hiles, of the Terra Caribbean estate agency said: "Building costs in Barbados, for a nice finish, are $200-$250 per sq ft. I would expect the completed properties to be worth in the region of $10 million. It is not for nothing that this area of Barbados is known as the Platinum Coast."
Mr Hiles has noticed an increase in Irish people buying property in Barbados and recently sold four condominiums of a 44-cluster development to Irish investors. Properties can fetch strong rents in the high season from December to April with villas making up to $30,000 per month.
Bernie Ennis of World Homes and Investments, based in Dublin, began selling properties in Barbados earlier this year. "I have been very busy with clients going down to view properties. There is an excellent choice of new and second-hand properties from £250,000 (317,435) upwards. Returns on properties in Barbados are very healthy at 6 per cent. The rental market is very strong and a two-bed, £250,000 (317,435) property on the south coast can achieve $2000-$2500 a month."
Travel agent Cormac Walsh has also noticed an increase in business to Barbados, particularly on flights only. "You would be surprised at the number of people who now go down from Thursday to Sunday to play golf. Though we do not package Sandy Lane, we book it for individual clients."
