Mauritius to be Graced with hotel

The Brand family will be expanding the South African Grace brand name to Mauritius by developing the Island Grace Hotel and the Grace Quarters. The family owns the Grace brand name and sells the rights to use the brand name to third parties, but doesn't own the Mount Grace, the Rosebank Grace and the Cape Grace assets anymore.

The hotel will form part of the La Belise Marina development, Mauritius' first residential marina development.

The project will be built in Black River on the island's west coast, which is a popular destination for SA families that have moved to the island. There are altogether 2,000 SA households in Mauritius and the Black River area is home to 80 families.

This is the Grace brand's first step outside SA and Charles Brand, who manages the project on behalf of the Brand family, says an extensive search for a unique destination preceded the extension. "In order to make the project a reality, the Grace brand had to enter into a joint agreement with developers of La Balise, namely ENL Property and Investec Mauritius.

Brand says the Island Grace hotel will be a luxury resort with 70 rooms in a unique environment with spa facilities, while the Grace Quarters will include duplexes and villas under the Grace brand name.

All facilities in the development will be managed by the Island Grace, including the rental pool of the Grace and La Belise units.

The rental pool offers an agreement whereby owners of units will share in a part of the total rental income being generated by all the rental properties in the pool. This means that investors will get a regular return on their investment, but still have access to a holiday unit.

A further bonus is that the Island Grace hotel will only make a limited number of units in the hotel available to investors.

He says he is optimistic about the development's potential in light of the island's good economic performance.

The total size of the La Belise development is about 37 ha and will include 118 units, which range from canal duplexes priced from $700,000 to super luxurious villas up to $2,8m.

ENL Property has recently announced that General Construction will be undertaking the project's construction. Ground work started in October and construction is set to begin early next year.

Gilbert Espetalier-Noël, CEO of ENL Property, says the development will create about 1,000 job opportunities for residents in the immediate area and 300 direct job opportunities after the construction is completed.

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