By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Arawak Port Development Company (APD) is expecting to go out to bid within the next 30 days on a $2.553 million construction project designed to give Betty K Shipping a new home.

Michael Maura, BISX-listed APD’s chief executive, yesterday disclosed to Tribune Business that the 8,000 square foot administrative building, which will be located at the port’s break bulk facilities, would take 11 months to construct.

The building, which will house Betty K’s administrative offices, is designed to give the shipping company its permanent new home more than three-and-a-half years after it was burnt out of its Bay Street offices by the 2011 Valentine’s Day fire.

Noting that the company’s administrative functions had been housed in rented accommodation on Bay Street ever since, Mr Maura told Tribune Business: “What this building is about is that we’ve got a built-in tenant in Betty K.

“This will be an administrative office to support their shipping operations. There will also be three smaller offices for other Bahamian shipping companies that are projected to take up space.”

Mr Maura said there were no prospective tenants for the extra offices yet, explaining that this space was being constructed to meet anticipated future demand from Bahamian shipping firms in the break bulk business.

“We expect to be going out to tender in 30 days,” the APD chief said of the project, “and have an 11-month construction period.

“It will be a facility for smaller Bahamian companies. We don’t have any [tenants] yet.

“As that break bulk terminal takes on new life, we expect other Bahamian shipping companies to come to us and say they’d like to have an office there as well. We’ve contemplated that.”

Footnotes to APD’s financial statements for the year ended June 30, 2014, reveal that the BISX-listed company’s Board of Directors, which includes both representatives of the Government and private sector, approved the Arawak Cay port’s latest construction project on August 23.

The approval, the statements say, was for “the construction of an 8,000 square foot administrative building at [the] break bulk facilities.

“The administrative building will house Betty K Shipping as well as other domestic shipping entities. Total estimate for cost of construction is $2.553 million.”

Dion Bethel, APD’s chief financial officer, told Tribune Business that the Arawak Cay port operator would seek to fund construction via a combination of existing cash flow/reserves, plus a Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) credit facility offering “favourable terms”.

The 2011 Valentine’s Day fire consumed not only the Betty K building but an entire city block, causing more than $100 million in damage.

The massive fire started in an office on the second floor of the Betty K building around 7.45am, and continued to burn throughout the day, aided by combustible material inside and heavy wind.

Despite the efforts of firefighters, the Betty K building was not salvageable. All that was left was a charred shell.

The intense blaze was fought by at least 35 fire officers and 15 Airport Authority fire service officers, who were then assisted by 100 officers from the Royal Bahamas Defence Force and 100 officers from the Royal Bahamas Police Force.

The fire also damaged the Adderley Building, the condemned complex adjoining the Churchill Building, which houses the Cabinet Office.