Menu Close

Phase III Atlantis Being Negotiated

A lot is riding on Sol Kerzner’s proposed $500 million expansion of his Atlantis Paradise Island Resort, but former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham has warned the government that the South African hotel mogul made commitments to the former administration that he is yet to keep.

Mr. Ingraham advised government officials to take account of what Mr. Kerzner owes as they negotiate Atlantis Phase III.

“I look forward to not only Kerzner International doing the investment over there, but I do want to say that there are some outstanding commitments that Kerzner International has to the government of the Bahamas that you want to make sure are carried out also. And they are: the replacement of the 100 rooms at the Paradise Paradise Hotel, which is demolished. So that you understand, our deal with Kerzner International was to put 1,200 new and additional rooms on Paradise Island. They demolished the Paradise Paradise Hotel and they demolished the Holiday Inn Hotel.

“We have about 600 rooms that we are owed from that deal,” said Mr. Ingraham during a recent contribution in the House of Assembly. “So whatever is agreed for the future, we must not be unmindful of these 600 or so rooms and we must not be unmindful of the need for the replacement of the five star Caf� Martinique Restaurant and the Boat House. All are to be replaced.”

While Mr. Ingraham said Mr. Kerzner has not lived up to past commitments, Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe said in an earlier interview with the Bahama Journal that, “I think Sol Kerzner, notwithstanding criticism…has for the most part, lived up to his commitment to the Bahamas and we today are benefiting from what the Kerzner group has done for Paradise Island and The Bahamas.”

President of Kerzner International Butch Kerzner was travelling this and was unavailable for comment.

An Atlantis spokesman said that the group was offering no comment on Mr. Ingraham’s statement “whatsoever” but would advise the media when they were ready to respond.

Prime Minister Perry Christie said during his party’s recent national convention that Kerzner’s expansion would create 1,200 new hotel rooms and the addition of further water-themed amenities. The Kerzner group’s proposal also includes a $50 million development comprising 122 new time-share units.

The entire expansion is expected to create 1,000 new jobs, according to the prime minister. But an official with the Kerzner group has said that the new development would lead to 6,000 new jobs on Paradise Island.

Officials at the ocean-themed resort have said that they want to begin the next phase of their multi-million dollar resort within seven months, and the new jobs would become available by 2008.

Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe said that the tourism industry is wide open for the addition of more rooms. There are 14,000 hotel rooms in the Bahamas. Nine thousand are in the capital.

Kerzner is internationally renowned for injecting hundreds of millions of dollars in creating what are widely regarded as wonders of the world. But controversy has long followed its chief executive officer.

The new investment in Paradise Island would follow the opening of Phase II in December 1998, when Sun International, now Kerzner International, said it would add 1,200 rooms to Paradise Island.

In total, there are 2,371 rooms at Atlantis and 107 at the Ocean Club.

“The impact would be enormous,” Mr. Wilchcombe said of the proposed phase three development, while pointing out that Mr. Kerzner has already delivered on a product of “high standard and high quality” in his initial Atlantis phases.

Atlantis is the company’s flagship property which features three interconnected hotel towers built around a 7-acre lagoon and a 34-acre marine environment that includes the world’s largest open-air marine habitat.

Mr. Kerzner’s investment in the Bahamas has in the past been hailed by former Prime Minister Ingraham as an important investment which has helped to drive the Bahamian economy.

His most recent comments on Mr. Kerzner’s unfulfilled commitment came in Parliament this week as he outlined a number of hotel development projects he said his government had in the pipeline that the new administration is now taking credit for.

By Tosheena Blair, The Bahama Journal

Posted in Headlines

Related Posts