Above: the Condado Vanderbilt

By the Caribbean Journal staff

One of the Caribbean’s historic hotel properties has been reborn.

The Condado Vanderbilt, a classic hotel property on Ashford Avenue in the Condado neighbourhood of San Juan, Puerto Rico, officially opened last week.

The debut completes a whirlwind journey for the hotel, which first debuted in 1919, the brainchild of American mogul Frederick William Vanderbilt.

But in the 1990s, the hotel shuttered until American investment firm Paulson & Co. paid $260 million for a hospitality portfolio that included the Condado Vanderbilt, the La Concha Renaissance Hotel and Tower and two adjoining condominium towers.

The company then stewarded the completion of the major transformation of the property, following a renovation project that first began in 2003.

The property includes 319 rooms and suites across three wings, the East and West Vanderbilt Towers and the Spanish Revival Building.

It also features five restaurants (including the 1919 eatery, which had been open already for several years), a full-service Vanderbilt Spa with 10 treatment rooms and a Hammam, along with a fitness centre.

Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla said the project had created 300 direct jobs and 700 indirect jobs.

He said the project would “strengthen urban tourism in Puerto Rico.”