Above: Turtle Cove (Photo: GIS)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The Turks and Caicos has signed a memorandum with developer Circle Holdings, Ltd on a planned $70 million hotel, casino and marina project, the government announced Sunday.

The project will be a low-density, high-end hotel, with a residential component, a marina and a retail and entertainment complex.

It will be located on the former Third Turtle Inn site on Providenciales’ northern shore.

Circle recently acquired the 17-acre site out of receivership. It has 775 feet of frontage on the Third Turtle beach, with 1,300 feet of marina frontage. The inn has been closed since 1989.

“This announcement confirms what the governor and I have been saying for a number of months now – the economy of the Turks and Caicos Islands is a great place for business,” said Acting Governor Patrick Boyle, who signed the memorandum on Friday. “It is terrific news that someone with such a proven track record right here in the TCI wishes to combine forces with seasoned real estate investors and bring his knowledge and experience to a new development. Growing the economy here is a balance between established businesses investing and reinvesting and attracting overseas investment.”

The Third Turtle Inn was actually the first hotel and restaurant bar in Providenciales.

Circle now has until Dec. 31, 2013 to apply for Outline Planning Permission for the construction of the development, with the development being completed within 40 months of obtaining the Detailed Development Permission, according to the government.

It proposes the addition of between 300 and 400 direct jobs, with anticipated revenues of around $9 million per year.

“I am very excited about this project, no less by the unequivocal support it has received from all quadrants of the society, particularly from neighbours and business owners at Turtle Cove, and from the TCI government,” said Vasco Borges, managing partner of the project.