St Croix VI - Amalago Bay Resort Receives CZM Approval

The St Croix CZM (Coastal Zone Management Committee) has approved an application from William and Punch Partners to develop a $640 million marina and casino resort. They plan to break ground next year.

The company owns almost 600 acres on St Croix's northwest shore, and will include condominiums, a boutique hotel, spa, restaurants, retail shops, a casino, timeshare units, a championship golf course and a 64-slip marina for the property. They had to agree to "beach restoration" to get the approval, and the plans still must pass the US Corp of Engineers, obtain legislative approval to relocate a section of Emancipation Drive to accommodate the marina, and have the Legislature approve a submerged land lease for the marina.

The CZM permit was approved in January with 36 special conditions. In July, the developers asked the committee to modify three of the conditions - changing the specifications of the entrance channel and flushing channel that lead in and out of the marina and restoring the beach. The modifications for the channels were approved but the beach modification was not. In August, the developers came back to the committee with some more data and environmental studies supporting their request and it was reconsidered at a St. Croix CZM Committee meeting Monday.

In the original CZM application, the developer asked to extend the beach 250 feet, but that request was denied. The new modification will allow William and Punch to extend the beach 46 feet seaward from the mean low tide line. Kevin Rames, VP of William and Punch, said the sand that will be used will come from the dredging channels leading to and from the marina.

The sand will cover the exposed rocks at the shoreline and continue into the water, gradually sloping down to the sea floor. Rames said adding the sand will restore the beach to the way it was prior to Hurricane Lenny in 1999.

Named Amalago Bay (from a common plant of the region as best I can tell, the Spanish-elder), the developers will tie the resort to an international brand. The announcement of which hotel they will use is expected in a month. A deal is almost finalized with a celebrity golfer who will design the resort's golf course. They already have the reservation for a casino license from the Casino Control Commission.

Here's a PodCast on the development. Read local comments about the proposed development at Trip Advisor.

St Croix is building for the future and is still the best buy in the Caribbean. Combine this news with the planned community on the other end of the island called the Clusters - read my blog about the Villages at Orangestaad - and...what are you waiting for? Make your dream of living on an island in the blue Caribbean come true. Contact me today!

(resource: Virgin Islands Daily News, photo courtesy of Trip Advisor)