NASSAU, Bahamas, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Kerzner International has agreed to buy the Club Med resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas for approximately $40 million, a report said Monday.
The 20-acre property, which includes a 306-room hotel and two restaurants, is adjacent to the site of a 1,200 room hotel that will be built as part of the recently announced $600 million Phase III expansion of the Atlantis Resort.
Butch Kerzner, president of Kerzner International, described the acquisition to the Nassau Guardian as "a great investment opportunity for us as we look to the future and our long-term growth plans for the Paradise Island properties, which ultimately contemplate 4,000 to 5,000 rooms around the Atlantis Resort."
Club Med was developed in the late 1970s by combining a number of upscale private residences together with the old Porcupine Club, a hangout for reclusive millionaires.
Kerzner said the acquisition represented a "significant first step" toward a potential fourth phase of Atlantis development. The Paradise Island resort will soon rival Disney operations in scale, the report said.
