By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

mckenzie@tribunemedia.net

MIAMI, FL - A Cable Beach timeshare developer is looking to build on his $4 million investment to-date by expanding the 35 unit offering, telling Tribune Business: “I’ve been booked every weekend in September and October”.

Bert Blicher, president of Blue Water Resort, Beach said the property was enjoying a “good year” and that a decision on what form the expansion will take will be made within the next six months.

“Our success has been excellent the last few years to the point that we’re actually almost sold out for the first quarter of next year,” Mr Bilcher said.

“Each of our years have been better. This year has been better than the last. We were fortunate that we didn’t see that much of a dip when we had the recession in the US. We saw some more international visitors coming in and, all of a sudden, the US started to get a bit better, and then the international market had problems.

“Sales have been good, however, and people love going to the Bahamas. We have a big rental business and I think we’re unique for developers because we can rent our units out easily, so people who own our units put them in the bank to rent them out and we can cover their maintenance fees.”

Mr Blicher added: “I’ve been booked every weekend in September and October. We’re having a good year because there haven’t been any hurricanes.

He confirmed that he was looking to develop more units on the property adjacent to Blue Water Resort.

“We have a piece of land next door that we’re looking to do some more development on,” he told Tribune Business.

“We have, in phase one 35 three-bedroom units. We are looking at the adjacent property. We haven’t come to a conclusion on how many units will be there. It’s going to take us probably six months to figure out what we want to do there. It gives construction jobs.

“This property, it was built in 1978. I bought it about seven years ago from the existing developer and I put about $4 million into it; it looks good now and it’s working well,” said Mr Blicher.

He added that timesharing was good for the Bahamian economy, noting that visitors who owned such accommodation typically stayed longer and had more disposable income.