Above: the Grand Pineapple Beach Resort in Antigua

By the Caribbean Journal staff

While the prospect of Sandals Chairman Gordon “Butch” Stewart’s proposed $140 million Beaches hotel project on Antigua’s Long Bay had seemingly dimmed last year, the project has returned to negotiations, according to Antigua Finance Minister Harold Lovell.

The project, which would be an expansion and revamping of the current Grand Pineapple Beach Resort, is “actively on the negotiating table,” the government said in a statement.

“I have to say those discussions are looking very hopeful,” Lovell said.

Negotiations on the project had apparently been called off at the end of 2012.

According to Lovell, the current trajectory suggests a start at the end of 2013, he said.

If the project goes forward, it would be the latest new project for Sandals in the Caribbean, following a new project in Grenada and an expansion of its Beaches property in Turks and Caicos.