The property was sold by Renaissance to a Mexican corporation who had precious little idea about the VI and thought they could create a total AI based on their knowledge and expertise on AIs in Mexico and I believe a couple of other Caribbean locations. They opened it, ticked off both the government and the long-standing employees with their AI corporate attitude, ticked off the guests who had been going there for years while it was a Stouffer and Renaissance property and ended up folding and leaving it empty. A private entity then purchased it, had all sorts of plans for it and then got an offer they couldn't refuse from the Wyndham Group.

The Wyndham Group had plans to turn it into a combination hotel/ timeshare property after substantial renovations to the tune of, as I recall, $48 million but the current economic downturn has stymied those plans. Wyndham is still the current owner but the property remains empty and although basic maintenance is still being performed and the grounds are being kept up, there can only be speculation as to its future.

The units naturally continue to deteriorate and, although this is purely speculation on my part, I venture to guess that Wyndham will retain ownership of the property and, when and if the economic climate stabilizes, will probably obtain permits to raze the property and start from scratch.

It's a sad tale indeed but hope springs eternal that eventually this site will, in one form or another, once again be a place which for so many holds such good memories.

Hope this helps. Cheers!

Just to add to the story this is what I heard.

The Mexican owners wanted to do some things that the VI government did not want to do. They involved labor rules and the people employed by the resort. The VI government in its infinite wisdom tried to dictate to the Mexicans. So they said they would close. The VI government said they could not so on the next day they closed. Sorta up yours to the VI government. The Mexicans would up paying the workers but that left a bad taste on both sides. They had plans to rebuild the place but then determined to sell the place. A local person made an offer which they accepted. Then the Mexicans got a better offer and tried to get out of the original deal. It sat in the courts for a year and a half which finally determined that they had to accept the original offer of 19M or so. The original buyer next month sold it to Wyn dam for 29M who wanted to convert the place in to time shares. Sorta like the Marriott did. But the down turn in the business world put a stop to that and so it sits. By the way Marroitt has stopped building it last time shares. I think it will be years until anything happens.

billd

We stayed there waaaay back in the day - it was our first ever trip to STT/STJ and the resort had not been open long. We were there during carnival and there were quite a few corporate retreats going on there. I just came across our pictures the other day and it's amazing how much of the foliage was lost during the construction. I remember a restaurant built high up on what they were calling "heart attack hill" that never was able to even open due to poor construction, we were told. Our room was one that was terraced into the hill and they had golf carts carrying folks around. The room was gorgeous but it felt very "sealed" up. Anyway, we moved on to Sapphire Beach for subsequent trips to STT as we loved the beach and the ground level units there but we always stopped back for Fudgsicles, made at the beach bar - those were great, and I liked to shop at the little boutique that was above the lobby. I think that Weekend at Bernies II filmed quite a bit there. The last time we were at Agave Terrace for dinner it again was weird looking down at what was pretty much a ghost town, kind of spooky at dusk. I guess the folks that have units at Pineapple Village are using the beach but it just seems so desolate there. Fungi's is still fun, though.

Thanks for all the responces guys. Kind of a sad story but i'm sure the property will open at some point in the future. Real estate like that isn't going to just sit and rot.

Don't know too much but it now has a sign in fron Pineapple Village....extension of the current Pineapple village by Coki?

The sign was put up by the Pineapple Village owners so that visitors would know how to get to the Pineapple Village parking. That's all!

Bluebeard's Beach Club is also a Wyndham timeshare property and for the last couple of years the sales people were pushing their newest resort to be built on island on the Renaissance property. I had to laugh, because Ms. Slick gushingly showed me a picture in the latest Wyndham timeshare publication of how the resort would look when it was finished. It was a huge picture of the Sugar Bay Resort. I kindly informed her that it was in fact the Sugar Bay, and she flat out denied it, saying she had been to the grounds herself. I suggested she take another tour, this time wearing her glasses, and inform the corporate offices that they are publishing the wrong picture.

Anyhow......About six months ago Wyndham pulled all their sales representatives out of St. Thomas. They are no longer present at either Bluebeard's Beach Club or, from what I understand, their other resort, the Elysian.

Well, rumor has it the Wyndham Sugar Bay is permanently closing in June. The existing hotels aren't doing well - why would anybody add another?

ms411 wrote:
Well, rumor has it the Wyndham Sugar Bay is permanently closing in June. The existing hotels aren't doing well - why would anybody add another?

Really? Wow, that is HUGE news. And by you saying Sugar Bay, you mean the main hotel. They have been out there for so long. You would think that they know there are good and bad times. I hope that that's all it is; rumor.

I can assure you that this "rumor" is totally and unequivocally false and incorrect.

It IS true that Wyndham Corporate in Florida laid of 500 employees a few months ago because of the general state of the economy and that these layoffs affected a few of its corporate employees here on St Thomas but the Wyndham Sugar Bay Resort here on STT is NOT closing either in June or any other month or year down the line. Cheers!

I would like to also add that as a condo owner at Pineapple Village the Wyndham still has a presence with the property connected to ours. They maintain a security staff on the property, keep the place lit up at night, have landscaping crews doing the minimal to keep the grounds clean and somewhat keep the beach cleaned. There are still plans in place to eventually renovate the property back to it's previous glory days. The original plans when they bought the property were to sell out the units as condo's and timeshares and the hotel would be the management company. I think that some of these plans have stalled due to the state of the economy but I do believe that something will be done.

The Wyndham Sugar Bay Closing is only a rumor.

Molly

Thanks STTResident and IAMolly (sp?) for posting to say that the rumor is false. Now if I can convince the person who's spreading it to stop, panic won't spread throughout the land. Wish me luck!

ms411: You really have to be wary about posting rumors on the internet as such rumors run rampant. One of my favorite expressions which I coined over 20 years ago is that, "if you fart on the Northside it'll be smelled almost immediately on the Southside!" Such rumors not only drift on the wind but are embellished as they continue. An original tale can end up being so far removed from the truth to become totally ludicrous. When the damage is done it's very hard to contain it and thus the melee and false information continues on and often for many years.

Whenever I hear a "rumor" that might be potentially damaging to either the person or the business if posted on the internet, I check with the principals involved directly.

ms411, your source was SO wrong but I hope (as school marmish as this might sound!) you've now learned a lesson which is NOT to post rumor. I regret that I wasn't immediately able to post a response to this rumor which I knew was incorrect but I wanted to check with a major principal at Wyndham and unfortunately had an outdated email address but that got all resolved early today.

Good luck in trying to persuade your rumor-monger friend that that info is incorrect and fortunately either he or she hasn't disseminated the falsity too far afield. Cheers!

STTResident, I did check with several sources, and I asked here because I thought I'd have a good chance of getting an accurate answer. I was not intentionally spreading a false rumor.

I know full well the consequences of posting on the Internet, but word-of-mouth can be just as damaging or maybe even more so. Who knows how many people the person who told me told, and how many people theperson who told them told? I can now go back, and tell them with more authority that it is not true, and hopefully prevent them from spreading it further.

STTResident, please, next time please send me a private message if you have concerns about something I post.

Thank you.

ms411: I've no problem at all in sending you or anyone else a PM when I disagree with an opinion which for many reasons I'd prefer not to address on a general forum. I'm not attacking you at all, but you posted what you heard of as a "rumor" which concerned a long-standing business here and such posts get out in cyberspace in a heartbeat and so it behooves rebuttal from those who have checked on such rumors to either decry, naysay or confirm.

Obviously you didn't check with the hotel itself or the management before you posted and that''s fine but a lesson learned

Apologies if I offended you in any way, shape or form. Cheers!

I heard that rumor all day yesterday in Red Hook, at the Marina, and at dinner in Frenchtown. It was assumed to be true because so many people had heard it and with the tough economy it is not an unrealistic scenario --- and I appreciate very much the effort put forth here to dispel it - Thank You!!