WESTERN BUREAU — Sandals chairman, Gordon “Butch” Stewart, yesterday announced that construction of the all-inclusive resort chain’s new $75 million property at Whitehouse in Westmoreland is far advanced and the hotel was due to be opened in October 2004.

“The Whitehouse property is well underway. It’s due to open in October of next year,” Stewart told reporters following the seventh annual Sandals Community Awards ceremony in Montego Bay.

“All the room blocks are in place now,” he said. “The public areas are being worked on. The concept has been completely worked out.”

Originally planned as a 258-room hotel to be operated under the Beaches brand, the new name, according to a Sandals fact sheet, is Sandals Whitehouse and it will have 360 rooms.

The hotel, which has been in the planning stages for the last four years, is being used as the springboard in an ambitious plan by its builders, the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), to transform a large section of the island’s south coast into a major business district with tourism at its centre.

Located on 45 acres of wooded headland at Parker’s Bay, Sandals Whitehouse, Stewart said, will be Green Globe certified and, according to the Sandals fact sheet, will retain “much of its natural vegetation”.

Yesterday, Stewart said that the hotel will be tailor-made with all the luxury facilities of a modern, first-rate resort.

“It is going to have more facilities than any resort that we have in Jamaica,” Stewart said and listed a range of land and watersports activities that will be offered by the couples-only hotel.

A range of entertainment options, including a disco, billiards room, piano bar and an interactive game zone that will feature the latest in video games from top software manufacturers, will also be available for guests, Stewart said.

Upon its opening, Sandals Whitehouse will bring to 21, the number of resorts the group operates in the Caribbean, with the majority — 11 — in Jamaica.