Business

Alamanda residence in Orient Bay reopened in June 2023 after post-Irma rebuild

The Alamanda in Orient Bay, wrecked by Hurricane Irma in 2017, reopened in June 2023 as a 43-apartment hotel residence after a 17-month rehabilitation by the Buildinvest group, with SEMSAMAR managing the project.

By SXM Daily · June 13, 2023

Reported 13 June 2023.

The Alamanda, a seafront residence in the village of Orient Bay that was badly damaged by Hurricane Irma in September 2017, reopened in June 2023 as a hotel residence. The Buildinvest group, which rebuilt it, held an inauguration on Friday 9 June 2023, Le 97150 and Faxinfo reported. Faxinfo said the first guests had arrived on Wednesday 7 June.

Illustrative: Orient Bay (October 2014). Photo: alljengi / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

43 apartments

According to SEMSAMAR, the Saint-Martin development company that managed the project for Buildinvest, the rehabilitation produced 43 private apartments: 19 studios, 3 one-bedroom and 21 two-bedroom units, five of them adapted for people with reduced mobility, across about 2,196 m² of floor space. SEMSAMAR said the reopening would add to the life of Orient Bay's village square next door.

Le 97150 reported that the apartments were bought turnkey by private owners and are let as seasonal rentals under a single management, without using online booking platforms.

The rebuild

Buildinvest president François Benais told Le 97150 that the former resort had been left in ruins by its previous investors. According to Faxinfo, the project took 17 months, used 14 local companies and cost €3.7 million. SEMSAMAR president Alain Richardson and the delegated prefect, Vincent Berton, attended the inauguration. Faxinfo described it as one of the last post-Irma hotel projects, and quoted Berton recalling that the hurricane had cost the territory 2,000 hotel rooms.

Sources

Source: https://www.le97150.fr/en/economy/tourism-en/l-alamanda-a-la-baie-orientale-renait-de-ses-cendres