Government considered buying a number of million-dollar guest rooms at the upscale Carlton Savannah hotel but decided not to.

Local private developers of the Cascade hotel, which has 165 rooms and 55 suites, offered the State 12 units several months ago.

It came at a time when the boutique hotel, which was designed for business travellers and locals, was battling high cost overruns and was two years behind its scheduled completion deadline.

The hotel was developed to allow clients to purchase guest rooms or suites then rent the units out to hotel customers.

Norman Tang, a director of the project, confirmed yesterday that the developers were negotiating with the Government to sell 12 units.

The remaining rooms were previously sold to private buyers.

The offer was made as the company’s costs mounted, and it encountered financial issues with its main contractor, Tang told the Express by phone yesterday.

’There were two years of overruns; there was a dollar overrun,’ he said, explaining that at the time, it seemed a good idea to offer the units for sale to the Government.

Another source close to the Carlton Savannah board of directors said the idea was for Government to use the rooms during the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Port of Spain in November.

Government considered the offer but turned down the sale about one-and a half weeks ago, Tang said.

By that time, the hotel’s investors were able to finalise outstanding financial issues with their commercial bankers, the director said.

It is also close to completing negotiations with its main contractor.

Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira’s response to questions about a possible sale seemed to be more guarded during the post-Cabinet briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s, yesterday.

Asked if the State bought the hotel, she said: ’I think at this particular point in time, it is a little premature to respond to that issue because if I were to say anything, you know it is something that has been mooted. How far has it reached? It has not reached any conclusion at all. There has been no conclusion on that.’

The Carlton Savannah is now 95 per cent complete and offers guests several restaurants, bars, flat screen TVs, personal shoppers and living rooms that double as meeting rooms for business conferences.