Emeraude Plage News

KevinS

Senior Insider
I had heard that there were discussions about a lease or sale to Le Barthélemy, but not that an agreement had been reached. I guess Le Barthélemy had a bigger boat than ER.

From Le News:
L’hôtel Le Barthélemy rachète l’Emeraude Plage

Le contrat a été signé au mois d’octobre : l’hôtel de luxe Le Barthélemy, à Grand-Cul-de-Sac, a acheté celui de la baie de Saint-Jean, L’Emeraude plage. Ce dernier devrait être complètement refait, avec la construction d’un parking souterrain et un changement radical de style. De lourds travaux en perspective.


From Google Translate:
Hotel Le Barthélemy buys Emeraude Plage
The contract was signed in October: the luxury hotel Le Barthélemy, in Grand-Cul-de-Sac, has bought that of the bay of Saint-Jean, L'Emeraude beach. The latter should be completely redone, with the construction of an underground car park and a radical change of style. Heavy work in perspective.
 
Call me crazy, but I will never understand the concept of an underground garage in a building that is directly on the beach.

Phil
 
Same initial thought, Phil. Then, as I thought more about it, the cost may be lower than buying above ground real estate for parking. And, as long as the space doesn't house electrical & other such operational components, it may not be a big deal to simply pump out water when it fills during a storm. I think that the new restaurant kitchen at the Manapany faces the same issue.
 
Yes but EP had plenty of parking on their own property. I visited when friends stayed there. They must be building on that lot.
 
AsI recall pre Irma, didn't le Barthelemy have underground parking? Given the paucity and value of real estate, an underground garage makes sense to me for the long haul.
 
Le Barthélemy had a lot more underground than parking. Hopefully their engineering firm has learned a lesson, or they have a new engineering firm.
 
I am so sad. Our first visit, we stayed at a beach front cottage at Emeraude. It was magical to watch the planes fly by, walk to Eden Rock or Le Plage for a cocktail. For St Barts, the beach front accommodation was very reasonably priced. This April is my 50th birthday and I had planned for many years to rent the small beach front cottage with spa to celebrate. Irma put an end to that but hoped the owners would reopen. I am sure that the new owners will build an amazing property but I’m also sure it will have an amazing price far exceeding our limited budget.
 
Love EP. We honeymooned on the Island in 1987 at El Sereno. Didn’t like the beach so a friend suggested we rent chairs from Filao on St. Jean. Fell in love with Filao and stayed for many years until it was destroyed. Was not sure of staying at EP. Back then it was not as lush as Filao and its beach umbrellas were in need of replacing. Yet we took a chance and fell in love with EP. Always stayed in a cottage by the main road and loved the walk to the beach. Last time we stayed at EP we still booked the room by the road. As we checked in we walked to the left instead of the right. I wondered out loud why we went to the left? She said that to celebrate our 30th anniversary Genevieve ungraded us to the wonder suit right on the beach! Cheryl started to cry. I got weepy as well. Last May walking by our suite and seeing it destroyed brought more tears to my eyes. I wish the EP family all the best with the new undertaking.
 
Sweet story, Cwater. It's awful when places we remember so lovingly get changed/upgraded/demolished. Guess it's happened to all of us of a certain age.
 
Thanks BND for your thoughts. Now plan B last year we stayed at Hotel Le Village and it was a wonderful experience. Highly recommended. This year we are renting a villa for the first time over our 30 year history with St. Barths. While I am sad for EP and the wonderful people that worked there I am excited and looking forward to new journeys. On another note Cheryl and I were visiting Flamand last year and ran into one of the housekeepers from EP. She had been working there for decades. She cried on my shoulder.
 
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