Prime Minister Perry Christie is set to make a major announcement within the coming days, revealing the name of the group to purchase the Cable Beach strip.
The timing of the announcement was not clear, however, a source close to The Guardian indicated that it could come before the end of this month, “But certainly by October.”
The deal was said to be “essentially” finalised and “very close” to consummation.
Three hotels are in the mix for redevelopment: Radisson Cable Beach Resort, the Wyndham Nassau Resort and Crystal Palace Casino and the Nassau Beach Hotel.
The government owns the Radisson Cable Beach Resort, which had undergone extensive refurbishing, particularly to 150 of its rooms, which were damaged by Hurricane Michelle in November 2001.
Phil Ruffin owns the Wyndham and Nassau Beach properties.
The purchase would involve the resorts themselves and ancillary properties to include the golf course and a 55-acre tract opposite the properties, formerly the Hobby Horse Racetrack. The total value of the investment is estimated to be in excess of $500 million.
When contacted on Wednesday about the deal, chairman of the Hotel Corporation of The Bahamas, George Smith said he could not reveal much on the matter, only that, “There’s going to be a major announcement but I can’t say that it would be this week. But you can quote me when I say, we’re well on target.”
Lyford Cay billionaire likely person
There’s been widespread speculation in political and financial sectors, especially over the last three months, that Lyford Cay billionaire Dikran Izmirlian was about to strike a deal to purchase the strip. Mr Izmirlian is a Swiss-Armenian who owns the largest real estate plot in Lyford Cay, according to recent reports.
Earlier this year, Mr Izmirlian had expressed interest in redeveloping the entire Cable Beach strip. The announcement of a “deal” at that time was set to be made by the Prime Minister as well. However, the deal was placed on hold, as there were reportedly tensions between the interested parties who needed to cooperate to make it a success.
At that time Phil Ruffin, had refused to sell his properties to Mr Izmirlian. Ruffin’s hotels were crucial in the mix for redevelopment.
It is believed that Ruffin and Izmirlian had been working closer together as of late to strike the deal.
Ruffin has a net worth of $700.00 million and has a 99-year lease on the Wyndham property.
In March Calstar Properties of Orange County, California, had proposed to acquire and redevelop the strip
Calstar Properties estimated that the redevelopment of the hotels would be completed within 36 months. It said the nearby land would take a bit longer and would comprise a convention centre, an amusement and entertainment park.
Myers was in the mix for Radisson
On June 20, a 100 percent Bahamian investment consortium to include the Hotel Industry Pension Funds, The Myers Group and a number of prominent Bahamians announced that it had offered to purchase Radisson Resort.
News of that offer came just days after industrial unrest at the property, where top managers walked off the job protesting “salary anomalies.”
The hotel corporation chairman questioned the timing of the Myers’ Group offer going public, making headlines in the local papers several weeks after the offer was made to the corporation.
Apart from the Myers Group, several other groups were in a bid to purchase Radisson.
Just last year Mr Smith announced that six “brand name” companies from the United States and Spain expressed interest in purchasing the resort.
At that time, the corporation’s board was focussed on correcting the hotel’s maintenance problems, which amounted to a loss of approximately $15 million during the previous year.
Its hope was to reduce the massive losses, improve financial performance and protect the jobs of the resort’s 900-plus employees. A clearing bank eventually had to bail out the hotel with a $15-million loan.
Because of this tremendous financial burden, the corporation had hoped that by the end of 2003, the resort would have been sold.
As reported by MINDELL SMALL, Guardian Staff Reporter
