Once-beautiful property is allowed to rot and die
Why would a corporation let a beautiful resort die? Why would it let the resort gasp for breath and be overrun with weeds, broken windows, ripped awnings and filth?
The senseless death of the Grand Beach Resort on St. Thomas is sick and sad.
It has spent more than five years rotting away on one of the most beautiful bays in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
In its heyday in the 1990s as Stouffer’s Grand Beach Resort, it bustled with life, with a gorgeous lobby, smart shops, a nice restaurant and a sugary white-sand beach on Pineapple Bay.
Picture your image of the Virgin Islands, and this was it.
The movie “Weekend at Bernie’s II” was filmed here in 1993. Model photo shoots for magazines were held here.
It was elegant.
Then, the merry-go-round of owners began. In 1995, Stouffer’s was sucked up by Hong Kong-based CTF Holdings, which turned it into a Renaissance hotel, just in time for Hurricane Marilyn to do damage. It came back, but in 2003, Mexico’s Palace Resorts bought it for $9 million. Quickly embroiled in labor and tax spats, it abruptly shut down in 2004.
Blight in paradise
For the last 5 1/2 years, the resort has sat empty, like a highborn lady now in the gutter.
In 2006, Palm Resort Holding Co. bought it for $17 million and then flipped it to Wyndham Vacation Ownership for $31 million. In 2007, Wyndham trumpeted its plan to turn it into timeshares by 2008. Then, nothing.
What a waste. Why would Wyndham pay $31 million for the 290-room property then leave it?
It is sickening to see the moldy, rusting awnings, crumbling dock and the ratty beach littered with refuse. The neglect is appalling.
Economy blamed
Ironically, Wyndham owns a gorgeous luxury resort, Sugar Bay, just down the road. In fact, some of the rooms there actually face the Grand Beach Resort.
Don’t they care?
They do, but market conditions have been turbulent the last 18 months, said Wyndham spokeswoman Liz Hutchison. That has affected development plans, including those for the Grand Beach Resort.
“The company is currently working to secure the required development approvals necessary to move this project forward if and when that determination is made,” she said in an e-mailed response. “During this time, the company provides security at the property.”
And that’s that.
Somebody, please, come and rescue this resort. It’s not just some crummy investment to flip or ignore. It’s a Virgin Islands diamond that deserves better.
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