'Mystery and silence' over Hamilton Hall

Rosemary Dewar, The Citizen, 17 May 2007

As St Andrews prepares for the best in women's golf to descend on the Old Course this summer, one of the game's most prominent landmarks - the former Hamilton Hall, behind the 18th green - presents an empty and blank face to the world.

Plans to develop the six-story, sandstone, former university residence as an exclusive timeshare complex were announced last summer.

The former Grand Hotel, built in 1896 and used as a university residence since 1949, was to be altered and extended to form a private club incorporating 25 holiday apartments, leisure facilities and catering and conference facilities.

Rhode Island-based Wasserman Real Estate Capital - which bought the building from St Andrews University in 2004 for a figure believed to be in the region of £20 million - also has a co-controlling interest in Kingsbarns Golf Links.

David Wasserman, principal of the company, said the two projects were "only the beginning'' of the company's commitment to development and expansion in the United Kingdom.