Nobody wants to talk about it, but a deal on the third phase of Atlantis is only hours off, if indeed it has not already been done.
Officials of Kerzner International (formerly the Atlantis Resort) were tight-lipped last night on when the development starts, but Minister of Financial Services and Investment Allyson Maynard Gibson hinted after a cabinet meeting that lasted several hours that it may get the green light as early as today.
She said construction of Kerzner International’s third phase “is in fact on,” but that she did not want to pre-empt any announcement that the Government and the company has in the works and did not want to give any “misinformation.”
“We have been involved in good-faith negotiations assiduously and I am sure that they (Kerzner International) would confirm this.”
Kerzner International public relations officer Sandra Eneas would not say when or whether the hotel would be announcing development plans but did say a press conference is scheduled on the matter today.
“I can’t release anything to you right now, but as soon as we have a time, we will notify the media. It’s expected and it will be very shortly. I can’t give you anything more than that.”
Meanwhile, a source told The Guardian a private luncheon is expected today with Kerzner International executives and the government, to mark a successful end to the years of negotiations since the 1998 second-phase addition. The reality of the latest development would bring millions of additional construction and tourist dollars into The Bahamas, and provide jobs for Bahamians interested in working in the hospitality industry.
In May, 1994, Sun International purchased three Paradise Island resorts, the Paradise Island Resort and Casino, the Ocean Club and Paradise Island Beach Resort. Construction began immediately on the site of the Paradise Island Resort and Casino for what became one of the most spectacular resorts in the world.
Sun International, a consortium of American, European and South African hotel and gaming interests, paid $125 million for the bankrupt Paradise Island Resort and invested another $250 million to convert it to Atlantis. Today, Atlantis is the largest resort in the region with average occupancy levels of about 85 per cent for rooms selling at an average of $215 a night.
In 1997-98, Sun spent a further $650 million to add 1,224 rooms to Atlantis, in its second phase. The Royal Tower opened on Dec. 12, 1998, with the largest casino/entertainment centre in the region, an upscale retail complex, a luxury marina, more than 200,000 square feet of meeting and convention space, the largest saltwater aquarium in the world, and a theme interpretation of the Lost City of Atlantis.
The construction of Atlantis phase II cost about $450 million. At the time, a construction-management agreement was signed with Crow-Jones/Bufete Construction that meant more than 3,000 jobs for Bahamians in construction and related industries, and a heightened awareness of The Bahamas in world tourism.
Most recently, TripAdvisor.com, a leading Internet travel search engine, named Atlantis “Best Hotel in The Caribbean,” after a year-long study of the most popular hotels on the web. The 2002 study identified the top hotels in 80 major cities worldwide, based on the number of positive articles found on the Internet. The resort was also recently ranked No. 3 on the Travel Channel’s “World’s Best Caribbean Beach Resorts” TV show.
Atlantis generates more half a million visitors a year, about 15 per cent of all Bahamian arrivals. The resort is owned and operated by Kerzner International, headed by chairman Sol Kerzner.
Kerzner International owns and operates 33 hotels and 21 casinos in Europe, African and the Indian Ocean islands of Mauritius and Comores. Other than Atlantis, the company is also best known for its grand resort in southern Africa, Sun City.
By Tamara McKenzie, The Nassau Guardian
