Cayman’s newest hotel, ONE | GT, received Governor Jane Owen’s seal of approval at its official opening on 15 May in a glittering launch party attended by government, developers and owners of residences at the George Town site.
The 97-suite hotel with 82 private residences is located on Goring Avenue and has a rooftop restaurant and infinity-edge pool, ground floor coffee shop and bakery and second-floor Mediterranean restaurant, Perle, which provided samples of its menu for the event including oysters, ceviche and ribeye steak.
City landmark
Guest of honour Governor Owen told guests assembled by the rooftop swimming pool on top of the 10-storey hotel that when she first toured the building two years ago, she had to use the construction lift attached to the side of the building to move around. She said she was delighted to see it finally come together.
“I feel we are standing on a landmark,” she said. “We’re working so hard to revitalise our beautiful town and this is what it’s about. This will make such a difference.”
She said that its location near the Government Administration Building will make it a popular place with civil servants, as well as business travellers and tourists, adding, “Importantly, it’s a place that’s going to be open to the whole community.”
Jeremy Hurst, owner of International Realty Group, the company behind ONE | GT, hailed the 144-ft high George Town hotel as a “first in Cayman’s history” and the culmination of seven years work from when the site was first identified.
“It was actually pitched to be a five-storey office block at that point in time, so we took a bit of a risk,” he said. “We figured that there were zoning changes coming, and seven years later we finally stand here today on top of something that we as developers are tremendously proud of.”
Community welcome
Hurst thanked members of government, including Planning Minister Jay Ebanks, Tourism Minister Gary Rutty and the planning department at Central Planning Authority, for helping make the project happen.
He reserved particular thanks for the owners of the neighbouring properties and said they were the first people to see plans ahead of government and CPA, “because we really wanted to engage them, to make them feel that we were part of what they agreed … and going forward, we wanted to make sure that we were really grounded as a community”.
He also thanked owners for their “confidence in what is a very innovative product” and said he was excited to have “attracted owners from all across the spectrum of Cayman and a diverse range of backgrounds” including international investors and local families. As well as the hotel rooms for short stays, ONE | GT has launched a mid-to-long term rental programme for fully furnished two-, three- and four-bedroom units for stays of three months or more.
Melissa Golub, senior vice president of hotel openings and transitions for hotel management company Remington Hospitality said she was thrilled to play a role in the future of ONE | GT, saying, “Bringing a project like this to life takes a shared vision, a strong collaboration, and we’re incredibly grateful to be a part of it.”
Related Videos
No mention of parking facilities?. As there is no beach area the pool could become quite crowded with 97 hotel suites and 82 private residences.