The incomplete Casique Palace Suites and Banquet Halls located at Providence, East Bank Demerara (EBD) has been put up for sale.
The hotel was supposed to have been completed in time for Cricket World Cup, held here last year and government had advanced $30M for rooms for use during the Guyana leg. It is unclear if the money has been repaid.
According to an advertisement in yesterday’s Sunday Chronicle, the property is a commercial free-hold one situated at Providence, Cricket Stadium Complex, EBD. The ad said that the property features land measuring approximately 226,512 square feet with two buildings comprising 45 apartments, conference facilities, catering centre, restaurant, swimming pool and recreational facilities.
Asked about the advance in March, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr Frank Anthony said that the matter was being dealt with between the Attorney General’s Chambers, the Ministry of Finance and the investors. The government granted the advance to the investors in the Casique to help with the completion of the project towards the end of 2006 and the Minister said there were guarantees that the sum advanced would be recovered.
Work on the Casique, intended to be a US$3.5 million project, began at the end of January 2006 and was to have been completed by the end of the same year. Anthony had said that when the advance was made available there were guarantees that in the event the investors could not repay the money, it could be recovered by other means. The options include the current investors selling the property to a buyer who could undertake to repay the government, or the investors repaying the government from the sale of the property. The government could also take over the property and compensate the investors for their contribution to the project.
When contacted in New York, USA, earlier this year one of the investors, George Smith told Stabroek News that their intention was to repay the government for the loan. He also said that work was ongoing on the project.
Asked about the repayment of the $30 million advance to the Casique earlier this year, President Bharrat Jagdeo had said, “We would have to find a way to complete the Casique.”
The advances to the Casique and Buddy’s International, which was granted $165.7 million, were made from the Consolidated Fund with the sums advanced having to be laid in Parliament. At the time of the disbursement, the President had given the assurance that the government would be repaid when the rooms were sold during the Cricket World Cup 2007. Guyana hosted six of the Super Eight matches at the nearby Guyana National Stadium at Providence.
The facility, which is registered as the Casique Palace, Suites and Banqueting Halls Inc, is the brainchild of New York-based Guyanese, Beverley Arthur, a registered nurse and supervisor of the Home Care Agency. She told the Stabroek News in May 2006 that she saw the investment as part of a retirement plan with the opportunity to contribute to the development of the country.
Arthur and pharmacists/ businessmen George Smith and Charles Cush pooled their resources to make the investment.
The plans for the construction of the suites, banqueting halls, swimming pool and business centre among other features had been in the making long before the Caribbean and Guyana were awarded the rights to host the CWC 2007. Arthur had said that they had been looking for the ideal location in Guyana and had forwarded their application to the Guyana government.
When the Caribbean was awarded the rights to host the major cricketing event, a very upbeat Arthur and the others decided the time was ripe for their investment and so began their quest. Apart from the construction of the facility, she had also indicated that training of staff and recruitment of key staff like the chef had begun.
They had also begun advertising in the US market noting that what they would have had to offer was going to be different from what Buddy’s now has on offer. They were also confident that their clientele was going to be different.
Ironically, the advertised sale comes just shortly after the Buddy’s Hotel was sold to a Turkish investor.
The incomplete five-storey facility is adjacent to the cricket stadium and parallel to Buddy’s International Hotel, Resort and Mall. The Casique was meant to be all-inclusive, which would also make it exclusive and new to what Guyana offers at present.
In addition to the suites, plans were in train for recreational facilities, shops, a gym, massage parlour and spa and business centre.
