Ritz Carlton – Superfood – Kooyman
Aruba’s been hit with another wave of investments and construction as of late. Not only new projects are being established and negotiated currently with the government but also existing companies are expanding. Expanding big, I might add.
Ritz-Carlton
Ritz-Carlton announced recently it has finalized negotiations with the government to build and operate a new 320-room luxury resort in Palm Beach. Locally, there’s been a lot of discussions about this project.
For the ones who don’t know, American hotel chain Marriott hotels – which owns Ritz-Carlton – approached the island government in the mid-2000 with a proposal to construct a 300+ room luxury resort located in the high rise area of Palm Beach.
The issue some have, isn’t necessarily directed against Ritz-Carlton, rather against the closed and secretive decision making process where all of this took place. The last few years Aruba has witnessed a lot of new construction and some are worried about the risk of over development. Some even say Aruba is overdeveloped as is.
Another point of discussion is the expected loss in accessibility of that piece of beach in Palm Beach. I must say that the latter is a bit weak as many water sports service providers already have taken control of the beach and currently isn’t very accessible or attractive for non-water sport users.
Environmental groups have also expressed concern as they lament the elimination of more vegetation and habitat for animals.
Superfood
Superfood recently purchased the old Adventure Golf miniature golf terrain to expand and build a *super* Superfood. This Dutch owned supermarket is currently located near Oranjestad in a building previously owned by defunct local food retailer Pueblo Supermarket.
Superfood plans to hit the competition very hard with this move, as this Superfood is going to become one of the largest supermarkets in Aruba. They plan to open a breakfast corner, pharmacy and a fresh flowers stand in addition to the regular products.
The most impressive part about the development of this supermarket must be its location. It’s located on the main roads to the high rise Palm Beach area and near most low rise hotels.
Superfood also saved us from a sure embarrassment as the abandoned structure of Adventure Golf was deteriorating very fast and could have potentially become an undesired eye-soar in that area.
Kooyman
Kooyman hardware center is building a new Super Center on a huge piece of land near Oranjestad. This from origin regional Dutch hardware store is planning to build a mega super big store (including the redundancy) on the outskirts of Aruba’s capital.
They are anticipating a huge increase in business and are going to give the competition a run for their money. Just around the corner there’s another hardware center, Codemsa. They certainly going to feel the competition. In fact, word has it that Codemsa is in trouble as it is. Kooyman has announced they are going to cater to both private consumers and contractors.
Concluding
Above mentioned projects alone are going to bring hundreds of millions of dollars of new investments to Aruba. This is surely great news. I can tell you that there are many projects in the pipeline that I’m aware of and more are coming to Aruba. To be continued for sure.
