Palm Island and Union Island to Rebuild After Hurricane Beryl Under New Investment Agreement

Kingston, Jamaica — 21 November 2025

St Vincent and the Grenadines has signed a redevelopment agreement for Palm Island Resort and the Anchorage Yacht Club on Union Island, both of which were destroyed by Hurricane Beryl when it struck the southern Grenadines on 1 July 2024. The agreement, signed in November 2025, brings American investor Zachary Bayman into partnership with the original owners of Palm Island through Limestone and Palm Island Resorts Limited, committing to the reconstruction of both properties to higher standards than before the storm.

The Rebuild Plan

Palm Island will be rebuilt as a luxury five-star resort with 34 free-standing hotel bungalows, comprising 24 one-bedroom suites and 10 two-bedroom suites, alongside 31 private villas in three- and four-bedroom configurations. Amenities will include two restaurants, two swimming pools, a beach club, a kids club, a spa and fitness centre, a tennis court, a yoga studio, and expanded aquatic activities. The redeveloped Anchorage Resort on Union Island, which operated as a popular yachting destination, will be reconstructed as a four-star, bohemian-style property with 30 to 40 rooms, a pool, restaurant, beach club, and the re-establishment of the kite-surfing school for which the Anchorage was known. More than 200 permanent jobs are expected once both resorts are operational, alongside construction employment during the build phase.

The Concessions Framework

Former Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves, who signed the agreement in the Cabinet Room, noted that the concessions framework applied to the Palm Island redevelopment is consistent with arrangements used elsewhere in the Caribbean to incentivise tourism construction after major disasters. He emphasised the economic logic: the increased revenue generated by rebuilt hotels and tourist accommodation strengthens government finances in ways that support continued investment in public infrastructure, including Argyle International Airport. Tourism reconstruction after disasters, he noted, is not simply a sectoral recovery exercise but a national economic priority.

Hurricane Beryl’s Impact

Hurricane Beryl’s landfall on 1 July 2024 caused extraordinary damage to the southern Grenadines, destroying more than 60 per cent of Palm Island’s infrastructure and severely damaging Union Island and other small islands in the southern chain. The storm, which struck at hurricane season opening with unusual early-season intensity, was a sobering reminder of the exposure that small island developments face regardless of how carefully they are built and maintained. Beryl demonstrated that a single event can wipe out years of investment and community development in hours.

The rebuild plan for Palm Island and Union Island reflects a post-Beryl recalibration. The new properties are being designed and specified to withstand greater wind and storm surge events than the pre-Beryl originals. The integration of more permanent villa structures alongside hotel rooms reflects the dual logic of long-term residential investment alongside hospitality: villa owners provide a base of capital and commitment to the destination that pure hotel investment cannot replicate.

Caribbean Resilience in Practice

The Palm Island and Union Island agreements sit alongside Dominica’s post-Maria housing resilience programme and Antigua’s climate-resilient housing commitments as evidence that Caribbean governments and investors are increasingly accepting climate resilience as an engineering baseline rather than an optional standard. Whether this represents a genuine and sustained reorientation of Caribbean development practice, or whether cost pressures and urgency will gradually dilute resilience standards as reconstruction momentum builds, remains to be seen. The scale and quality of the rebuild at Palm Island will be an early test of that commitment.

Source: Searchlight / Caribbean regional sources, November 2025