Sandals mulling second resort in St. Vincent: report

Less than a year after the grand opening of Sandals Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), the adults-only, all-inclusive brand is reportedly eyeing a second resort on the largely-untouched Eastern Caribbean island.  

According to a report in the St. Vincent Times, a local news outlet, Sandal Resorts International may expand further in St. Vincent, potentially taking over the unfinished Black Sands Resort at Peters Hope, or build on another location along the leeward coast.

Full disclosure: the details are sketchy. However, speculation is swirling following a social media post by SVG’s Finance Minister Camilo Gonsalves’ on February 23 showing a photograph of himself alongside Terence Des Vignes in what appears to be a location of the unfinished resort.

Des Vignes, notably, is Sandals Resorts International regional project manager.

In a public post to his Facebook page, Gonsalves’ wrote: “I was once told that deals are done in conference rooms and on golf courses. I find that I work better on beaches, boats, bush and barefoot. This one might be big…”

Other clues

But other clues have been drooped. As the St. Vincent Times reports, Ralph Gonsalves, prime minister of SVG, appeared on NBC Radio this week, saying that Adam Stewart (executive chairman of Sandals) addressed the topic of expansion in SVG during the recent CARICOM heads of government summit held in Barbados last week.

“I didn’t know he was going to intimate it, but he intimated that he’s in discussion with the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines for the further expansion of other Sandals in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. I don’t want to get ahead of myself with that. Just that he made it known there that we are talking. I wasn’t going to talk about it yet, though people would have seen him and Camilo down the Leeward coast checking out different places,” Gonsalves was quoted as saying.

Sandals opened its first property in SVG in March of last year, unveiling 301 rooms and suites across 50 acres, along with programming that celebrates the island’s botanical gardens.

The property also debuted a new restaurant, Buccan, a large-format style dining experience.

Other highlights include a 300-foot linear pool that connects a flora-framed lobby terrace to the horizon. Cabanas and cocktails, meanwhile, invite guests to loll the day away, with three other pools among lush vegetation.

A new concept for Sandals, the Vincy Overwater Two-Story Villas, feature expansive spaces spanning two storeys above the sea.

There are plans to add some 20 to 30 rooms to the existing site, with estimated construction costs nearing US$30 million, reports say.

Gonsalves said in 2022 that the land designated for the construction of the Black Sands Resort may be subject to forfeiture by the government, contingent upon the stipulations outlined in the alien landholding licenses, the St. Vincent Times notes

Canada-based PACE Developments first initiated the development in 2017 but has yet to fulfil its commitment to complete the resort, despite having projected a construction timeline of 24 to 30 months, now nearly nine years past that initial promise, the outlet reports.

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