Government officials on Monday signed a heads of agreement with Ritz-Carlton Hotel Ltd. for a 95-room luxury resort on Rose Island, slated to open in 2009.
The $500 million, 230-acre resort, which will break ground in a little more than a year, will also include a “vacation club,” a marina, a medical attention facility and 136 “resort estate homes,” among other things.
Minister of Financial Services and Investments Allyson Maynard-Gibson said that this is the first heads of agreement that mandates the developers to employ Bahamian real estate agents for all land sales that use real estate agents, and Bahamian contractors to build the homes and residences on the project, provided they are “price competitive” and meet Ritz-Carlton standards.
Senior Vice President of Ritz-Carlton Ezzat Coutry said at the signing that the Ritz-Carlton Rose Island, the luxury hotel chain’s seventh property in the Caribbean, will break ground in 16 to 18 months.
Mr. Coutry said that the developers will employ “plus or minus 900 people” over the course of the project, and officials said that 800 permanent jobs will be created at the resort complex.
Donald Urgo, one of the developers of the project, told the Journal that the figure “is not a guarantee.”
“We can’t guarantee anything. However, based on the project’s scope we are quite confident that as it develops and is finished with all its elements-that it will generate very significant employment,” Mr. Urgo said.
Asked whether the government demanded guarantees regarding job creation, Mr. Urgo demurred, and said, “There were a lot of discussions with the government-we had a very, very successful discussions with the government.”
Mr. Urgo told the Journal that he was the one who called Ritz-Carlton about the project on Rose Island, after visiting there a year ago.
“While 2009 may seem quite far away, our planning has already begun to make sure the reality matches our grand vision,” Mr. Coutry said.
This seems to be borne out by a revelation on Monday that the first part of the project, a sheltered marina for luxury yachts, will be completed as early as October 2006.
Prime Minister Perry Christie welcomed the Ritz-Carlton to The Bahamas, and said that the $500 million investment comes at a “strategic time” as the Ritz-Carlton Rose Island exemplifies the concept he called the “anchor property.” Mr. Christie said that the government is seeking to transform The Bahamas “one island at a time” by placing a major resort property or smaller tourist-attracting properties on each island.
The Ritz-Carlton Rose Island will be an expansion of the Bahamian-owned Rose Island Beach and Harbour Club, owned by the Lovejoy family. Lorie Lovejoy, head of the clan, told the Journal that his family felt that Ritz-Carlton was “the right partner for Rose Island and The Bahamas.”
“It’s a Bahamian-owned project that’s been Bahamian-developed,” he said. “The original vision was my family’s.”
The family has had expansion plans, according to director of operations, Sean Lovejoy, since 1999, and construction on the marina actually started in 2003, although Ritz-Carlton did not get involved until one year ago at the instigation of Mr. Urgo.
Both Mr. Christie and Mr. Coutry spoke of environmental concerns. The prime minister said the environmental safeguards built into the project are “of significant importance.”
Asked whether they had consulted environmentalists, officials said they are consulting “everyone”.
Mr. Christie said that The Bahamas has “an eternal obligation” to ensure that future generations enjoy the “pristine environs” of the country.
Mr. Coutry, speaking about “responsible tourism,” said that the plan is to “respect and protect the natural beauty of the environment.”
By: Quincy Parker, The Bahama Journal
