By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

Phase II of the $250 million Pointe project is now underway and is expected to be complete by the end of 2018, the spokesman for the development Leslie Pindling told Tribune Business yesterday.

The new phase of the project will encompass the development of a 100-room, eight-storey condominium complex with oceanfront residences and a marina.

Mr Pindling, director of New World One Bay Street, told Tribune Business: "Work has resumed. Phase II is underway and moving nicely."

According to Mr Pindling work began approximately two weeks ago. He was unable to say how many people will be employed on the current phase.

"We have no numbers yet, we're just ramping up," he said.

The Pointe, which is a project by New World One Bay Street, a wholly owned subsidiary of China Construction American (CCA), Baha Mar's main developer, is being built on five-six acres of waterfront property adjacent to the British Colonial Hilton.

The Pointe's first phase was centered on the multi-storey parking garage, which now dominates the entrance to downtown Nassau on West Bay Street.

Ground breaking for The Pointe's latest development phase took place in early March 2017 under the former Christie administration. Tribune Business reported back in late August that Daniel Liu, head of the China Construction America (CCA) entity behind the downtown Nassau project, wrote to the Minnis administration on August 22, seeking "immediate assistance" for the Pointe's condominium and marina construction approvals.

The letter, addressed to Desmond Bannister, minister of works, was written just four days after China's State Council and its top economic planning body placed overseas hotel investments by Chinese companies - and especially state-owned ones such as CCA - in a 'restricted' category.