The announced plans for a two-tower 21-floor hotel in Cupecoy (see related story) were met with mixed initial reactions. Some believe all the damaged visitor accommodations should be repaired first, while others don’t like the idea of high-rise because it is not in keeping with the island’s tropical paradise image.
For starters, people need to understand that fixing and reopening local properties is not up to Government, but rather their owners. Insurance payments obviously also play a role.
What can be done is to facilitate the private sector entities involved by creating incentives like providing cheap loan capital as suggested. Improving relevant public infrastructure and offering paid training for hospitality workers during the recovery process are alternative ways to do that.
Under the circumstances, serious and feasible new tourism developments should generally be welcomed, because they reduce the destination’s dependence on existing resorts coming back on line. In addition, such investments send a very positive message about continued confidence in the future of St. Maarten and its product.
Just as or even more important is that construction would reportedly create 170 jobs especially at this moment, with a growing number of persons becoming unemployed almost daily. That is a social-economic factor one can hardly afford to ignore.
Regarding the towers supposedly being too tall, the same thing was said about The Cliff and several other structures. Height obviously adds to risk in terms of strong winds, but common sense seems to dictate that any post-Irma project would have to consider the possibility of category 5-plus hurricanes.
So far only a building permit has been issued and time will tell whether this venture becomes a reality. For now, the initiative certainly deserves the benefit of the doubt.
