Within the next six months, San Fernando will see the start of construction of a 120-room Hilton hotel at South Park.
The project was announced by chief executive officer of Rahael Holdings Ltd (RHL) Group of Companies, Anthony Rahael, during a meeting with San Fernando mayor Junia Regrello at the San Fernando City Hall.
“We are introducing an internationally branded hotel, we are in discussions with the Hilton brand and we have an agreement in place, so hopefully in the near future we will be breaking ground to build a new hotel, a Hilton-type hotel,” Rahael said.
“It will probably be a Hampton Inn by Hilton that would be coming to San Fernando, and keep in mind this is the first internationally branded hotel in San Fernando.”
Hampton by Hilton, formerly known as Hampton Inn, is a brand of motels trademarked by Hilton Worldwide. The Hampton hotel brand is a chain of moderately priced, midscale hotels with limited food and beverage facilities.
Rahael said the South Park hotel will be built close to the mall on a two-acre piece of land and will be complete with conference rooms and all amenities.
This project will be the second international hotel for the country, as the Sandals Group has announced its intention to build a 750-room hotel at No Man’s Land, Tobago.
That project has been marred with controversy as there have been environmental concerns raised over the use of No Man’s Land.
During a meeting on Sunday in Tobago, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley once more threw his support behind the project, saying it is a very important one for the island and it would bring tourism on the island into the 21st century.
The Sandals project is expected to employ thousands during the construction period and in the course of it’s operations.
Rahael said yesterday the South Park hotel will also create jobs in San Fernando.
“The staffing of the hotel is going to 100 per cent local and when I say local I mean San Fernando locals as the case with most of the tenants we have now (at South Park.) During the construction period, you’ll probably have about 150 people employed and after the construction period, the staff members should range from 50 to 60 people.”
Rahael said while he could not say yet what the hotel might cost, the preliminary designs have already been completed.
“We have designers in collaboration with Hilton, the preliminary design is already done, we just now need to finalize the designs and get the necessary finances.”
He said once the construction begins, it is expected to last approximately 18 months.
He also announced that the company would begin discussions on creating a residential community on another two-acre plot of land close to South Park. He said that project would be targeting middle-income earners.
Regrello praised him for the initiatives, saying South Park has already contributed vastly to San Fernando and pledging the support of the city corporation.