THE NEWS OF the impending construction of a hotel on Bay Street (a Hyatt no less) is very welcome indeed (MIDWEEK NATION, November 4, 2015).
Coincidentally, your newspaper carried the report in the same edition as an article on the ascendance of Warrens as a hub of commercial activity and calls for that area to be designated officially a “town” (as we in Barbados know it at least).
A case may be made for the expansion of what is officially considered Bridgetown outward to incorporate Warrens as the business district of Bridgetown, but that’s a discussion for another time.
The erection of such a high-end property on Bay Street would be hailed as a boon to the economy with its concomitant injection of funds and the provision of jobs. However, beyond that, the existence of the hotel should do much to uplift the capital city and should drive efforts at the refurbishment of a space that despite its designation as an official World Heritage Site, has become increasingly drab, rundown and downright depressing.
It may be presumed that this project and a similar one apparently planned for further up the street by the Old Eye Ward (Bay Street/Jemmotts Lane junction) would have a knock-on effect in the enhancement of the nearby areas: Nelson Street, Pondside, Jemmotts Lane, Fairchild Street, Probyn Street and indeed Bay Street itself, of course.
Hopefully as the project(s) progress, we will be hearing from Government and private interests about all sorts of wonderful undertakings that would see a major renewal and indeed unprecedented development of these areas in particular and across Bridgetown in general.
This has implications for the efficient management of the urban space with regards to sanitation, security and law enforcement, the provision of public amenities such as parking spaces, public transportation, housing, lighting and so on.
These can only benefit the local population in the long run. After all, we wouldn’t want to house our visitors in salubrious surroundings within the hotel only to have them look out on/walk/drive past the ugly ruin that is the Empire Theatre or the remnants of the Fairchild Street Market, or the increasingly dreary façade of the former National Insurance Building.
It is projects such as these and the long mooted Pierhead Development Project (is that still a thing?) that are the shots in the arm that Bridgetown needs.
Hopefully any plan that incorporates the site of the Old Eye Ward would utilise and retain as much of the current structure as possible.
– RANDY BATSON