Arnold Palmer’s New Caribbean Project

Grand Cayman’s development boom continues, this time with help from golfing legend Arnold Palmer.

The Cayman Islands’ Cabinet has approved terms for a development and concession agreement between the British Overseas Territory’s government and Ironwood Cayman on the Ironwood Village project.

The project will include a PGA championship golf course and resort designed by golfing legend Arnold Palmer, and it will be the first course of its kind in the Caribbean.

Above: Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill in Florida

The Arnold Palmer Design Company’s development will be similar to Palmer’s Bay Hill property in Florida, and will include a town center, a beach club, luxury hotel accommodations, watersports facilities and other amenities.

Above: Arnold Palmer

The government has been in negotiations with Ironwood for the construction of a 10-mile extension of the island’s east-west arterial road for some time, and the government said it remained “committed to working toward concluding an arrangement with the developer and ensuring that the terms of any such agreement will be in the best interests of the country and the people of these Islands.”

The new development and concession agreement will provide Ironwood with duty waivers and concessions on everything from planning application fees to import duties, with a maximum concession value of 6 percent or a maximum of $21.9 million.

The project’s estimated development costs are $365 million.

The Palmer project is the latest in an increasing boom on Grand Cayman, which has seen a major new Kimpton hotel project, the recently-launched Beach Bay project and a planned transformation of the Treasure Island resort.