Howard Hospitality Group is redeveloping the former Pageant Beach site in Grand Cayman with plans to build a 456-room $285-million resort, which reportedly has now received advance approval from the Department of Environment.
HHG and architectural firm Trio Architecture have planned this 7.1-acre development with the Department of Environment. Though the National Conservation Council has indicated that the development will not be required to go through an additional Environmental Impact Assessment, both HHG and Trio will continue a close working relationship with the Department of Environment throughout construction. “They worked closely with us to help us understand the shoreline and beach conditions and any touch points of concern on the sire so we were really able to understand what we needed to do from an environmental sustainability perspective,” Michael Wilkings, CEO at HHG, told Cayman Compass.
The resort's brand is still unnamed, but it will have a five-star major global brand that will be operated by the Howard Hospitality Group under a licensing agreement. Construction on the new resort is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2018, with an opening tentatively slated for 2020.
In May, HHG also launched its new Locale limited-service brand. The new brand's first 42-guestroom Locale hotel is currently under development on Grand Cayman in the Seven Mile Beach corridor and is slated to open next month. HHG has future sites planned internationally for both the Locale and Yara brands.
In 2015, the group acquired Treasure Island in Grand Cayman’s tourist district for over $15 million and transformed it into the Margaritaville Beach Resort. The major redesign of the resort included 280 guestrooms and was completed by its December 2016 opening. It is being managed by Trust Hospitality of Miami.