Mar. 16--HALF MOON BAY, Antigua--The government of the Caribbean island of Antigua finalized the seizure Friday of a derelict American-owned hotel and golf resort, an action Prime Minister Lester Bird said he was not happy about but thought was necessary to support his country's sagging tourist economy. 

Situated on a stunning inlet along Antigua's jagged southeast coast, the 110-acre Half Moon Bay Hotel and its nine-hole golf course were severely damaged in a hurricane in 1995 and have not been rebuilt. Giant water tanks that served the hotel lie rusting and toppled on the hillside above the shoreline. The roof of the building has gaping holes. 

Now by an act of Antigua's Parliament, the once lavish 100-room property belongs to the Bird government instead of Natalia Querard of New York. In an interview, Bird said the resort would be sold eventually to the highest bidder after an independent appraisal to determine a fair value. Querard and her partners would then be paid off, he said. 

Using laws akin to declarations of eminent domain, Bird argues the government has acted in the public interest. Lost wages and taxes from the hotel amount to 3 percent of the country"s gross domestic product, of which 70 percent derives from tourism, according to a recently released government justification for the seizure. 

Supporting the government are owners of multimillion-dollar mansions that overlook the resort and its pristine mile-long crescent beach. Some of them Americans, they claim the dilapidated hotel has lowered their property values. This also includes owners in the gated community of nearby Mill Reef, an old-money vacation hideaway started in the 1940s. 

Charles Knight, chairman of Emerson Electric Corp. and president of the Mill Reef Association, said Friday that he expected the resort's board to issue a statement in support of the government's action. "This is important for Antigua's economy and we support it. Mrs. Querard fired her employees and never paid them severance. It's a fiasco." 

In fighting the seizure, Querard has drawn letters of support from a handful of U.S. congressmen who have protested the takeover to Bird. Antigua's government in response started a broad public relations and diplomatic effort early this month to tamp down worries among foreign investors that it was acting in a high-handed way. 

"We are not nationalizing American property," Bird said. "We're not Castro-like. This is the first time we've done anything like this. We gave Mrs. Querard tax concessions like nobody else in order to get the hotel back in operation. In fact, if she could do it today, we'd be pleased." 

Querard, 63, bitterly laughs off such statements and said she hopes to use local courts to fight the seizure of what she said was the one-time flagship of Antigua's tourist industry. "We're dealing with an impossible situation," she said. 

Contrary to Bird's version of events, she said government officials have hindered her efforts to find financing to rebuild. 

A falloff in visitors since the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States has sharply pinched Antigua's economy. 

The Bird government's purpose, Querard charged, is to turn property over to Alan Stanford, a Texas-based banker who has large financial commitments in Antigua, an offshore banking business and tens of millions in outstanding loans to the Bird government. 

Stanford told The Wall Street Journal this month that he is interested in the property "if the government gets title to it free and clear." 

The Querards have had in interest in the hotel for 31 years. An appraisal last year by Oliver Davis, who Querard said was a respected local surveyor, placed the value of Half Moon Bay in its current condition at $31 million. She says government officials have told her they have estimated the property's worth at between $1 million and $2 million. 

Querard went to court Friday to seek a judicial review of the Parliament's decision. 

But Bird said, "We're not talking about ownership anymore, just what it's worth." 

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(c) 2002, The Miami Herald. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.