Dear Club Orient Friends,

It’s been too long since we have updated you on our progress on the re-building program. Our apologies, but we have been waiting thinking we would have something more definitive in another day or week. Sometimes we do and more often, we don’t.

But, we cannot continue to leave a vacuum, as many people who are not correctly informed are eager to fill it with something they heard from someone, who knows someone and they said…. Anyway, here is the correct up to date information as it stands today.

The homeowners of Club Orient recently met in Orlando for three days at Cypress Cove and expressed overwhelming support for the rebuilding efforts. Copro continues to be hampered by the insurance company in Paris, which even though their expert declared Club Orient a total loss, have still not issued a check!
Why? We, as well as many other businesses, cannot get a straight answer. The insurance companies still owe millions of Euros to a large number of companies on St. Martin. Copro was told that they would have the money by May 1 and still, nothing has been received.

That does not mean everyone is sitting on their hands. The architect and contractor retained by Copro have a detailed set of plans and have prepared all the necessary applications for submission, as soon as the funds are received.

Both the Copro and OBC (Orient Beach Club) are still planning to have 30 to 50 rooms available to rent by this winter. We have not forgotten our promise to allow a head start on reservations, for all of you who have kindly donated or allowed us to retain your deposits. You’re the best!

How long for the total repair/rebuild? We currently estimate about eighteen months from start to finish. ALL the new units will be built with reinforced concrete instead of wood. We also intend to address several issues that will make the facilities more modern and efficient, including bringing in fiber optic cable for internet and phones.

Will we be adding additional rooms of more than one story? The current plan is to at some point, take the land behind the current Club Orient and be able to increase our available number of rooms. Plus, the government now requires us to have “safe areas” which are more than 3 meters above the ground, in the event of another hurricane. As Club Orient is below sea level and most of the damage to us was caused by water, not wind, we have to provide one or more concrete structures to house people.
This will be done without changing the basic layout and ambiance of the Club Orient which we all love.

We have also had several requests from many of you wishing to buy units from owners, who have for various reasons, decided not to be part of the rebuilding. If you are interested, please contact Alan at ClubOrientSales@comcast.net . Alan is a long-time homeowner who handles all the resales at Club Orient and is very knowledgeable about all aspects involved.

So, thank you again for the continued support and the very positive emails, many of which we share with our employees, at the monthly meetings we have to keep them informed of our progress.