A developer plans to build a 10-storey Hyatt hotel on the site of the old Margaritaville resort, previously Treasure Island, on West Bay Road.
The four-star Hyatt Centric hotel, if approved, would include 352 units of studios, king- and double-queen-bed rooms, and one-bedroom suites, as well as a restaurant, a cafe/bar, a rooftop bar, a pool, a ballroom and a boardroom/events room.
Hyatt Centric is billed as a brand of Hyatt hotels “highlighted by a global portfolio of vibrant hotels with culturally immersive experiences and spaces”.
Mike Stroh, founder and principal architect of Trio Architecture in Grand Cayman, which is working on the project, told the Compass that Hyatt had been attracted to Grand Cayman because the company felt there was a “huge opportunity for a lifestyle hotel … with a variety of offerings” on the island where there are already several five-star, more expensive hotels.
“From a development point of view,” he said, “there is a huge opportunity to develop a site that has been an eyesore for Cayman for many years. Not just an eyesore but problematic from a structural, administrative and financial standpoint.
“It is definitely time take this amazing piece of property and develop it into what it deserves to be.”
The 5.43-acre site, which has been plagued with issues for several years, was sold in December last year for $8.6 million.
A planning notice for the redevelopment of the site into a 10-storey hotel was submitted to the Department of Planning last month. The name of the developer was not released in the documents that had been published on the government’s planning website. Stroh told the Compass the developer behind the project currently prefers to remain anonymous.
Caribbean expansion plans for hotel group
Trio Architecture previously worked on the transformation of the former Treasure Island into a Margaritaville resort, and is also working with the Hyatt group on its 10-storey Grand Hyatt hotel, which is nearing completion at Pageant Beach, on the edge of downtown George Town.
The plan to bring a Hyatt Centric to Cayman is part of the company’s expansion ambitions over the next few years. It already has 70 hotels worldwide, including in the Dominican Republic, Egypt and China, and plans to open at least 35 more by the end of 2028.
In a 21 Feb. press release issued by the company on its expansion plans, Emily Wright, vice president and global brand leader for Hyatt’s Classics and Essentials portfolios, said, “The brand’s recent growth, including openings and planned developments, meets the rising demand from guests and members, especially Millennial and Gen Z travelers, for more contemporary accommodations with playful details, sophisticated furnishings and socially connected spaces.”
If the hotel in Cayman is approved, this would make it just the second hotel for the Hyatt Centric brand in the Caribbean. Last year, it opened its first in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic capital.
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In my humble opinion, the success of this hotel will be highly dependent upon the restoration of the beach. Most tourists come to a hotel like this to be on the beach.
Unbelievable.. I remember the days of the Holiday Inn and now the Ritz.. now this location as we would rent the condos on the beach. Perfect place for kids, swim up bar for lunch..
Oh Cayman you should have kept it small and peaceful. Now, the traffic and more people. It was a piece of heaven and now going in the wrong direction… I hope it doesn’t get approved..
Great another eyesore, more traffic issues, more garbage for the dump/sewer and more work permits!
Just out of interest can someone explain what happens to the sewage all these megadevelopments along West Bay Beach, produce every day?.
10 story Hyatt ? – how unwelcome near the beach and if we must, how much more ugly than this can a design be? Must we add yet another disfigurement to our collection of coast defacing, unimaginative constructions?
Where are all the cars going to go There is no room on the roads now. There is no room on the beach for all these people Sunset Cove owns the beach and chairs above the high water mark. They rarely have empty chairs in high season with 95 units full of people. Where are another 200-400 people going to sit????
Once again there is an article on Margaritaville which is factually incorrect.
MV Advisors Ltd did not own the hotel.
There was no court order selling the property. The lending bank appointed two Receivers who sold the property owned by MV Cayman Ltd a company in liquidation whose court appointed liquidators are Russell Homer and Karen Scott of Chris Johnson Associates Ltd.