* Lighthouse Club negotiations to ramp up

* Hotel Corp chief: 'We must get this done'

* Cabinet committee to lead talks with Hew

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Hotel Corporation's chairman yesterday said "time is of the essence" in closing the sale of its last hotel property (Grand Lucayan excepted) to an Andros-based resort developer.

Michael Scott QC told Tribune Business the Government and Hotel Corporation were both preparing to ramp up negotiations for the Lighthouse Yacht Club and Marina's disposal to a company headed by Kamalame Cay’s principal, Brian Hew, adding: "We have to get this thing done."

He confirmed: "We're at the stage now where we're trying to agree a Heads of Agreement on concessions and development and so forth. That includes Hotels Encouragement Act incentives. What's going to happen is a Cabinet committee, or sub-committee, will be appointed to negotiate with Mr Hew.

"We have a contract with him. The deal is in progress, and a Cabinet committee will be appointed to negotiate with the principals of the purchasing company. We have to get this thing done as soon as possible. Time is of the essence to get this done."

Mr Scott declined to comment further and Dionisio D'Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, who has ministerial responsibility for the Hotel Corporation, could not be reached for comment before press time despite multiple attempts.

However, Tribune Business revealed in May 2019 that Mr Hew was conducting "due diligence" on the Andros-based Lighthouse Yacht Club and Marina with a view to acquiring a property that has been closed ever since it suffered significant damage from Hurricane Matthew in October 2016.

This newspaper reported that Mr Hew’s emergence as frontrunner came after an earlier deal headed by Bahamian entrepreneur and businessman, Burton Rodgers, and involving a group featuring some of the investors who worked with him to purchase Exuma’s Club Peace & Plenty hotel, seemingly stalled.

Mr D'Aguilar, hailing Mr Hew's interest at the time, said: "All I would say is that Brian Hew is looking seriously at it and he obviously comes to the table with a wealth of experience in operating a hotel in Andros.

“He would be wonderfully positioned to successfully operate a hotel property in Andros. Not only have his properties been successful, but he’s won endless awards for a fantastic property and created opportunities for Bahamians. These are very high-end customers [at Kamalame Cay] that are economically impactful on Andros.

“I’m very excited that he’s interested and we’ll see where it takes us. As far as I’m aware it’s still at the Hotel Corporation level. He’s doing his due diligence and hasn’t gotten into the details yet. I’m not quite sure where in the process he is. He’s still, I think, contemplating what the details of the deal look like and, because it’s owned by the Hotel Corporation, it has to go to the Government for final approval.”

Kamalame Cay is a family run, high-end boutique resort featuring private villas and beach houses in a 96-acre setting. It consistently attracts both high-end clients and positive reviews from the global travel media, and provides multiple amenities and experiences in close proximity to the Great Barrier Reef.

The Government is now in its 28th year of trying to exit resort industry ownership, with the Grand Lucayan and Lighthouse Club the last two remaining properties. Numerous attempts to sell the 20-room Lighthouse Club, whose Fresh Creek-based amenities include a 30-slip marina, pool and tennis court on 11 acres of beachfront land, have been made before with little success.

The last Ingraham administration was trying to negotiate a sale to Illinois-based Scheck Industries when it left office in May 2012, in a bid to end financial bleeding that was costing the Hotel Corporation some $500,000 per year.

Under the proposed agreement with the then-government, land and investment incentives would have been released to Scheck in accordance with “timeframes and milestones for development”.

The company had proposed a $15m investment in the first phase, and construction and full-time jobs of 50-plus, but nothing further was heard of Scheck once the last Christie administration took office.

Tribune Business then revealed in 2014 that rival Bahamian-led bids with strong Andros connections were battling to acquire the Lighthouse Club. Prescott Smith, owner of Stafford Creek Lodge, confirmed he was heading one group, while Vanlock Fowler, owner of Nassau-based All Purpose Steel Company, confirmed he was part of another.

Again, though, no deal was closed. The property remains shuttered, with the Matthew-related damage not repaired, resulting in the Minnis administration offering the assets on an ‘as is’ basis when it began marketing the Lighthouse Club for sale in September 2017.

Frederick McAlpine, the former Hotel Corporation chairman, told Tribune Business in 2018 it had managed to save taxpayers some $250,000 by terminating the Lighthouse Club’s 20-plus staff and paying them due severance after the Christie administration kept them on despite the hotel being closed.

Mr Hew's plans for the Lighthouse Club have not been disclosed, but Mr Rodgers and his group had planned to create what they described as The Bahamas' “first 100 percent green resort” through a $7m investment that would expand the property and create an initial 40-50 jobs.