TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Divi to add new rooms, maybe

Daily Herald link

Not sure I understand the 'seeks' in the title to the article. As in the SXM government would somehow deny them permission?? What's the likelihood of that happening? Wonder what the issue is??

I think the title is Daily Herald speaking. "Exploring the possibility" seems reasonable.

OK, could be. Have you heard anything about this?

Been going to the Divi since 1988 and there was always talk that local government wanted public access to the Fort Amsterdam site. Divi always was against this because they wanted to keep The Divi a gated resort. Just guessing, but government may be getting involved in the additional rooms addition to bargain for public access to Fort Amsterdam.

OK, I wondered if it had something to do with Fort Amsterdam. Frankly, my opinion is that there should be public access to Fort Amsterdam. It should belong to the people.

No, I haven't heard anything. But I also don't think Divi is refusing access to anyone who wants to go to either the beach or Ft. Amsterdam.

Wasn't there also some effort by Divi in the past to get approval for a casino? Didn't they have one that was destroyed when Hurricane Luis wiped out some buildings, but the government wasn't willing to give them permission again? I thought there was some issue around Divi needing more rooms to qualify to have a casino but the government would not allow them to build more units atop the hill by the fort. It's hard to envision where they would put nearly 100 more rooms, unless they are just hotel rooms instead of the larger units they have otherwise,

Yes, there was a casino on site(alhambra casino, as I recall) , It was in the building where you check in now, which was destroyed by the hurricane. There has been much talk about restoring it thru the years,but it seems to have an impasse between Divi and the government. One could only speculate on that.
As far as adding rooms, there is really no open space other then up the hill, which again seems unlikely..

Then what do they need an assessment from owners for? To build more time share at owners expense?

What assessment?

Right - what assessment? The assessments pre-Irma were the normal 10-year "refresh" assessments. There will be no hurricane assessments.

In the past, the Divi gatekeepers always allowed us (as pedestrians) access to Fort Amsterdam and the beach.

The assessment you just paid for refurbishing and those who just got their assessments for their units not jet refurbished.

Ro, You are confusing me, are you referring to the assessment we paid last year?

Yes Sandflip the one you paid last year and the one people got in August just before the hurricane and the ones sent just after that.