Baha Mar seems focused more on selling investment-grade luxury condos than actually boosting hotel-based tourism to The Bahamas.
Baha Mar has hired a team of real estate agents and lined up hotel management companies to service the condominiums they plan on selling to international investors early next year.
Called “The Baha Mar Collection”, the 313 luxurious residences will go on sale in February.
The resort company has partnered with the likes of the Dorchester Hotel Group and The Jumeirah Group – to help sell and maintain the properties.
But where are the hotels delivering the basic Bahamas tourism product that most Bahamians believed was the focus of the development?
With the financing and construction of the $3 billion project coming from the Chinese govermment, the resort company has been spending its time scouring the far east looking for Asian-based companies to help manage the condos they intend to sell.
The private properties at Baha Mar, ranging in price from $1.2 million for a one-bedroom apartment to a $6 million, four-bedroom villa on the beach, will be sold primarily as investment vehicles and will provide very few overnight tourists.
Richard English, senior vice president in charge of sales and marketing at Baha Mar, said eight real estate agencies have signed on as partners to help move the properties once they go on sale.
Three of these agents are in China – Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
“The Asian market is key for us,” English said.
“But there are also representatives in other countries, such as the UK, U.S., Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. We are leveraging all of these estate agents around the world,” he added.
English anticipated there would be as many as 12 agencies around the world working on the Baha Mar Collection’s behalf before the properties go on the market.
Of course, this does little to help boost the fortunes of Bahamian real estate agents and brokers.
More insulting, local buyers won’t have access to the properties until summer 2012, with occupancy expected when the resort is completed in December 2014.
