The Sea Pebbles Boutique Hotel on The Strand, Sliema, is still “duly planned” to be re-developed, with a recently announced evaluation of “possible alternatives” referring to the proportion between rooms.

The announcement by Sea Pebbles Ltd, made “for the sake of clarity”, follows an update last week about an assessment of the impact of the COVID pandemic and the “current and anticipated tourism market trends” with a view to “maximise returns from the project”.

Sea Pebbles Ltd confirmed that “nothing in this reassessment will impact the company or its investors”.

“The re-evaluation referred to [previously] refers to a reassessment of the originally planned proportion between rooms, apartments and penthouses which comprised 303 standard rooms, four two-bedrooms apartments and a four-bedroom penthouse, in order for it to better meet the foreseen tourism market demands for the forthcoming years,” the company said.

The properties in questions are situated atop TexMex Bar & Grill and MedAsia, on the border of Gżira and Sliema.

The company’s 2019 prospectus for its bond issue envisions the addition of another 150 rooms to the existing 52-room hotel, bringing the total number to 202 rooms.

It is not clear how and when the difference between the originally quoted number of rooms and the latest figures provided came about.

Attempts to contact the company proved unsuccessful, and questions sent to the company did not receive an immediate reply.