I presume there is a fear that if cleaned up before everything is in place to rebuild Club O, someone will come in and buy the land and stick another resort on it and goodbye nude beach. Otherwise, I don’t understand not bulldozing it.
In May 2021, the permit application was put on hold pending the finalization of the PPRN. In Nov 2021, the PPRN was finalized and the conditions required modifications to the application.
Various events happened in 2022, including the elections in the Collectivité in May 2022, which replaced the previous government officials with a new slate of people who had to be updated on the project.
The project is still being worked on but everything moves slowly in the Caribbean.
Many of the units are repairable. In France, as long as 50% of the walls are standing, it is considered repairable. In terms of the PPRN and rebuilding, anything that is repairable can be repaired as it was. Clearly, none of the wooden units are "repairable" but many of the concrete units are.
As for buying the land, it's a little tricky since it is a Copropriété and all owners would have to agree to the sale. It's not a situation where a single little house can have high-rise buildings put up all around it if that person chooses not to sell.
The other factor to keep in mind is the PPRN which is extremely strict about what can and cannot be built, not just on the Club Orient location, but anywhere on the French part of Saint Martin. This is controlled by the state (France), not the Collectivité (local government).
IMHO, Whatever structures were once salvageable are no longer. Nearly all the remnants have been undermined by the tides or vandalized. Perhaps they already have,, but I can't see how the insurance company hasn't issued a check at 2017 values to be held by some trustee and washed their hands of the management mess called Club Orient. The cost to rebuild has to have escalated far beyond 2017 insurance with all the inflation.
If there is more going on the Club Oers can keep a secret like no others. Cedric both keeps hope alive, THANK YOU, but also relieves the pressure to rebuild as folks cement into other SXM lodging. Some find the great beach by itself not enough and have left for other resorts/options.
If I were betting in Vegas, odds of Club O rising from the ashes nude by 2028: less than 33%.
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