Casinos can’t operate until 1,000 rooms are built
Jamaica is jumping into the gaming industry with both feet, with two massive, billion-dollar resorts set to begin construction this summer.
Robert Trotta’s Celebration Jamaica, to be located on a 75-acre tract in the Rose Hill section of Montego Bay, will open in phases, with Phase I offering 1,000 hotel rooms, a 100,000-square-foot casino, and multiple retail, dining and entertainment options, including the Caribbean World Music Entertainment Complex. The property will eventually add another 1,000 hotel rooms.
According to Casino News Daily,the complete complex is expected to cost $1.8 billion, including $500 million for the first phase alone. It will also employ up to 12,000 people directly.
Phase I of Harmony Cove, on a 2,300-acre site in Trelawny, comes with a $1 billion price tag. When complete, the resort will include 5,000 hotel rooms, restaurants and retail space, plus a 75,000-square-foot casino, a spa, marina amenities, golf courses and assorted entertainment facilities.
Harmony Cove is a partnership of government-backed Harmonisation Ltd., which owns 49 percent of the venture, and the global investment firm Tavistock Group. An unnamed Chinese investor may also join the venture, according to the Jamaica Gleaner.
“We are working through the paperwork and various stages of completing the financing,” said Lorna Simmonds, executive director of Harmonisation Ltd. “The announcements will come soon and from the highest quarter of government, in coordination with Tavistock and through the prime minister and the minister of finance.”
Harmony Cove and Celebration Jamaica were the only two bids accepted following passage of Jamaica’s casino gaming regulations in 2012. Each resort must offer minimum of 2,000 hotel rooms to be developed in two phases. And a casino cannot begin to operate until after the first 1,000 rooms are built, according to CND.
