The casino is planned for 31,000 square feet. The aparthotel would have 150 rooms of four- and five-stars. The existing Mount Murray Hotel is a four-star with 100 rooms, two restaurants and two bars, fitness and health club, indoor pool and an 18-hole golf course overlooking the island.
The new Mount Murray Golf Club House, opened in April 2007, houses the island’s biggest pro shop, a large bar, a 100-seat restaurant, snooker room, two conference rooms and a large function room.
The casino would be built on the opposite side of the parking lot from the pro shop, the
aparthotel just across the road from the casino. Aparthotels provide guests with the hotel experience minus the restaurants and bars. Albert Gubay, group chairman of Mount Murray Hotel and Country Club Ltd, believes the Mount Murray provides a unique opportunity for this kind of development.
“In today’s market it’s impossible to build a four-star hotel with all the necessary facilities at a price that gives an economic return,” Murray told Isle of Man Today. “The reason you can do it at Mount Murray is half the investment is there, conference rooms, bars, kitchens and parking is all there. You’ve only got to build half a hotel.”
Another 60 rooms have already been OK’d for the existing hotel. The £45.6 million project would create 150 construction jobs and add 50 permanent jobs to the resort when completed. If the plans are approved, work would start in early 2009.
“The work will take two years to complete and my thoughts are that this recession will last two years, so this is work for the island for the next two years and I think this is important,” said Gubay.