By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Albany’s developers are getting closer to acquiring their 383-acre neighbour, Tribune Business can reveal, after all South Ocean staff were last week told to report to its human resources unit.

Multiple highly-placed sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, disclosed that a three-way joint venture involving South Ocean’s current owner and the adjacent ultra-luxury community is being put together to finally revive a property that has been closed for some 15 years.

Besides Albany and the Canadian Commercial Workers Industry Pension Plan (CCWIPP), the third party in the proposed deal features “people who formerly worked for Greg Norman” - the Australian professional golfer whose real estate company produced a masterplan for South Ocean’s development back in 2012.

It is understood they will focus on redeveloping South Ocean’s golf course, widely-regarded as the best in New Providence, which was remodelled under Mr Norman’s Blue Shark brand more than a decade ago only for the then-purchaser’s acquisition to fall through.

However, this newspaper was told that Albany, whose developers include the Tavistock Group, the vehicle for worldwide investments by Lyford Cay-based billionaire, Joe Lewis, plus world-renowned golfers Tiger Woods and Ernie Els, will be in the lead and the driving force behind South Ocean’s redevelopment.

Tribune Business has made multiple attempts to reach Christopher Anand, Albany’s principal, over the past weeks. On the one occasion it was successful, Mr Anand said he was unable to speak and ended the call. Subsequent calls and messages have not been returned.

Still, this newspaper was told that Albany plans to use South Ocean to expand as necessary to meet demand, with the property likely to be developed for more high-end, multi-million dollar real estate and amenities plus boutique hotels.

Its strategy appears to now be moving forward and gathering momentum, with well-placed contacts last week revealing that South Ocean’s remaining “skeleton” workforce - the likes of security and maintenance personnel - had been ordered to report to Albany’s human resources department.

Craig “Tony” Gomez, the Baker Tilly principal, whose accounting firm acts as South Ocean’s financial manager on CCWIPP’s behalf, declined to comment on the staff switch to Albany when contacted by Tribune Business.

This newspaper was told, though, that Albany and the joint venture’s take over of South Ocean may not close “for quite some time”. This is because CCWIPP has to market the property for sale to all-comers in compliance with a Supreme Court Order setting out how it should be auctioned off.

The Canadian pension fund, which provides retirement income for supermarket/grocery workers, has been marketing South Ocean for sale in recent weeks in the local newspapers under the “I F Propco” name, which is the CCWIPP investment vehicle that holds the Bahamian resort and channels money into it as necessary.

CCWIPP is exercising its “power of sale” as the mortgage holder, having advanced monies secured on South Ocean’s 383 acres to Roger Stein’s New South Ocean Development Company, a previous developer whose deal to buy the property fell through some years ago.

“The deal is not finalised but they’re going to move quickly,” one source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said of Albany and its potential partners. “The vistas are much better than Albany. South Ocean runs right to the beach.

“I daresay those properties will be more valuable than Albany’s originally was as the properties are sitting right on the beach. It would be a better extension of Albany. And if it’s one thing the pension fund owes to their members it’s to get rid of a property that’s not been functioning for 15 years. What are you going to do? Keep holding it, keep holding it? It’s time to sell.”

CCWIPP took over South Ocean’s ownership around two decades ago after developer Ron Kelly defaulted on loans he had borrowed from it to acquire the property, and which were secured on its real estate.

The pension fund ultimately closed the resort in 2004 in a bid to stem the financial bleeding caused by multi-million dollar losses, and has been desperate ever since to secure an exit route. However, no buyer has come close to matching its asking price, and several sales processes and potential deals fell through in subsequent years as it failed to monetise the land’s value.

Albany has always taken a keen interest in its 383-acre neighbour and what happens to it, given that it wants any redevelopment to match the high-end, ultra luxury status it has established with its southwestern New Providence community.

Its developers have been involved in bids or joint ventures to acquire South Ocean, the last available parcel of land for mega resort development on New Providence, at least twice before.

However, their last attempt was defeated when CCWIPP elected to go with an offer from controversial Lyford Cay resident and Austrian financier, Dr Mirko Kovats, rather than its joint venture with Och-Ziff, the hedge fund and asset manager with over $40 billion in worldwide assets.

But another contact, speaking recently on condition of anonymity, said: “They’re on the verge of doing this deal that was put together by Albany, Greg Norman’s former people and CCWIPP. I think what they will do with the South Ocean property is what benefits Albany.

“The most logical thing for them to do is build canals and houses around the golf course. It’ll be according to Albany’s timelines.” However, another source questioned whether South Ocean’s golf course would be open to the public or become part of a private, gated community.

Given that it has been closed for 15 years, South Ocean’s remaining value largely rests with its latent casino licence, which kicks in once the property reaches a certain number of rooms. Its golf course, too, was rated as the best in New Providence by many golfers.

Its unclear, though, whether the casino licence would be part of Albany’s plans given that casinos are not among the industries that Tavistock Groups lists itself as having investments or experience in.