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Hotel construction is reborn here

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Hotel construction is reborn here
F&R Construction Group · Puerto Rico

By Militza Suárez Figueroa

After nearly 30 years of inactivity, new hotel construction in Puerto Rico revives with the Jade Hotel (St. Clair Collection) in Isla Verde — the first hotel built from scratch since the 1990s, in the words of architect Ricardo Álvarez-Díaz of Álvarez-Díaz & Villalón (AD&V), who designed it for investor Keith St. Clair. Planning began in 2016 on a small, challenging lot, with the goal of giving visitors a uniquely Caribbean experience.

The design fuses art deco curves — prominent in the island’s 1930s-40s hotels — with the horizontal modernism of the 1950s-60s, drawing comparisons to San Juan’s Hotel Normandie. The team used drones and computer modeling to maximize views and study shadows while protecting neighbors’ privacy, and added a rooftop pool deck combining sea views by day and city lights by night. Built by F&R Construction Group starting before Hurricane María in 2017 and nearing completion, the ten-story, ~112,000-sq-ft, $36.7 million hotel comprises 71 studios, 29 one-bedroom and 7 two-bedroom suites, with sustainability features such as high insulation, efficient glazing and water-saving plumbing.

Álvarez-Díaz credited the result to a strong contractor-designer relationship and a renewed boom in hotel development, while Antonio Fullana Morales, BSCE, Vice President and partner of F&R Construction Group, stressed the project as another opportunity to contribute to a high-potential sector. (Owner: Keith St. Clair, St. Clair Collection · Investment: $36.7 million · Architect & interior design: Álvarez-Díaz & Villalón · General contractor: F&R Construction Group.)

— F&R
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