Plans for a second casino-hotel on St. Croix are gelling, but the project faces several hurdles before the first chips are cashed.
Mario de Chabert, a St. Croix businessman and attorney, said Monday that within two weeks he expects to close the financing for an eight-story, 193-room casino-hotel on his family's property near Sunny Isle Shopping Center, which the family also owns. Construction on the long-planned project could begin as soon as mid- to late October, he said.
"Over the many years that we've been trying, it's finally becoming a reality," de Chabert said.
He declined to disclose the project's cost and has yet to choose a contractor for the casino-hotel. Two of the "three or four" contractors bidding for the project are local, de Chabert said. However, even if ground is broken next month, de Chabert must complete several steps to secure a casino license for the Crowne Plaza Queen Anne Hotel, according to Eileen Petersen, chairwoman of the V.I. Casino Control Commission.
Petersen confirmed that de Chabert has paid 50 percent of his licensing fee and filed preliminary paperwork for the application that he first filed in 1999. Remaining steps include:
— Intensive background check on the casino's management;
— Verification of the project's financial viability;
— A feasibility study to determine if the island can support a second casino;
— Public hearings;
— Payment of remainder of the license application fee.
"It takes such a long time because every aspect has to be investigated and has to be weighed," Petersen said, adding that it is common for projects to commence through the financing stage without a secured license because most of the information required is contingent on the financing.
De Chabert said the casino-hotel's financing package includes $5 million from the V.I. Public Finance Authority. Six years ago, the PFA earmarked the funds for de Chabert's project. Amadeo Francis, the PFA's executive director, was unavailable for comment on Monday, but at recent Senate hearings he has said he would recommend to the PFA board that funding be extended.
The Crowne Plaza Queen Anne Hotel, designed to cater more to business travelers and small conventions than resort tourists, would be part of the Atlanta-based Crowne Plaza Hotel chain. The project has been more than 10 years in the making.
The initial plan, in 1987, was to build an 86-room Comfort Inn on the Sunny Isle site to complement a cancer center planned nearby. The cancer center project fell through, but since then de Chabert has searched for a feasible replacement project.