🏨 New hotel, Hotel Indigo, set to open in Grand Cayman

Hotel Indigo, the latest addition to Dart's portfolio of properties, is set to open its doors in April, with guests expected to start checking in by June. The hotel is located on the Esterley Tibbetts Highway, across from Seven Mile Public Beach. The property boasts 282 rooms and suites, 7,500 square feet of meeting space, and a rooftop bar. While the hotel does have beach access at the former Calico Jack site, concerns have been raised about the additional pressure the property will place on the public beach. 🏖️

Originally, Dart had planned for the hotel's grounds to be landscaped in such a way that guests would be directed down a path to the former Calico Jack beach, thus avoiding additional pressure on the public beach. However, the hotel is situated between the new Watermark condo development and Dart's Seafire Hotel, with The Grove across the street, its new phase under construction and existing condo complexes in the area. This means that when it opens, there will be hundreds more tourists in the area, adding significant strain on the busiest beach on Grand Cayman. The hotel, which was initially scheduled to open last year, was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 🏝️

Hotel Indigo was marketed to appeal to the business community for conferences and events, as well as adding beds to boost Cayman's post-pandemic recovery. It was also intended to be the anchor tenant for Dart's proposed PAD in that area. However, Dart, who had been reluctant to carry out an environmental impact assessment for the entire development, has not begun any work on any other element of this controversial project. Recently, Dart announced it had no plans to begin any further development until the government rolls out the long-awaited and much overdue revised national development plan. 🏢