Sandals Resorts will expand its five-star Royal Plantation brand with the 2010 opening of the 130-unit Royal Plantation Dragon Bay in Port Antonio, Jamaica.

The opening will follow a $100 million expansion and high-end redevelopment program, scheduled to begin in eight months. Sandals has owned the property and site of the Dragon Bay Hotel for several years.

"We were waiting for the right time to begin this project," said Jaime Stewart, managing director of the Royal Plantation brand. "The government, Prime Minister Bruce Golding and Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett have been anxious to reposition Port Antonio as a high-end tourism destination, and Royal Plantation fits that bill."

The property, which Stewart described as "the antithesis of cookie-cutter architecture," will market itself as a spa with a hotel.

"This will be the first five-star spa resort in Port Antonio," Stewart said. "Accommodations will include new construction on the site of the former hotel and villa units on the bluff side of the property."

While Dragon Bay will accept children, Stewart said that the villas may be designated as an adult-only site.

"All the buildings will be low-density and blend in with the natural setting. The spa will not be one block of buildings but will be scattered throughout the property in different settings, including the caves on the bluff, Zen gardens and the gardens," Stewart said.

Five or six styles of guest accommodations will be offered, from one-bedroom suites to "five-star treehouses," according to Stewart.