• Group investing up to $10m in property upgrades

• 'Can't have a city without a commercial district'

• Succession planning key to economy 'backbone'

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Milo Butler Group is aiming to “reignite” downtown Freeport via a potential $10m investment, with renovations to the former City Markets building set to finish within the next 90-120 days.

Franklyn Butler, who has just overseen a transition to fourth generation leadership in the family-owned business, told Tribune Business yesterday it hopes to be “a catalyst” that will inspire others to follow suit, adding: “You can’t have a city of Freeport with no commercial district.”

With BISX-listed AML Foods having already signed a long-term 30-year lease to occupy two-thirds of the 30,000 square foot York Street building, he added that the group hoped its investment would make a dent in the “vandalism and vagrancy” impacting the area.

Besides the former City Markets property, the group also owns the adjacent 30,000 square foot Pantry Pride property, giving it some 60,000 square feet of combined space that it plans to upgrade and use to attract other quality commercial tenants back to downtown Freeport.

“We’ve already started renovations to the downtown property that used to be the former City Markets,” Mr Butler told this newspaper. “I was in Freeport and there’s a tonne of excitement around what is being done there.

“For the people of Grand Bahama this is monumental, and we hope to be able to do some stuff with the surrounding properties in downtown Freeport to really reignite the redevelopment of the city of Freeport.”

Mr Butler added that the family-owned business’s confidence in Freeport’s future could ultimately translate into an “up to $10m” investment. “It will be between a $5m-$10m investment depending on how far the project goes,” he explained.

“We own the City Markets building and the Pantry Pride building on the other side. The hope is that we see what we can do from a development perspective to get those buildings fully renovated and potentially occupied.”

Asked whether the Milo Butler Group’s plans may extend beyond those buildings to acquiring other properties in downtown Freeport, Mr Butler responded: “We’re not sure at this stage. I couldn’t speak to that myself. Let’s take it one step at a time. Possibly, but I’m not sure.

“We have to make sure we get these projects off the before we look at anything else. There’s a lot of square footage involved; 60,000 square feet.” As for when the City Markets property’s renovations will be completed, Mr Butler added: “We anticipate in the next 90 days to 120 days.

“We have had a contractor working so I imagine in the next 90 to 120 days we will be complete with that renovation.” AML Foods, which Mr Butler also chairs, is due to move into that space and open its Solomon’s Freeport location “between the summer and fall of 2022”.

As for the Pantry Pride building, he added that while no lease commitments had been secured yet, the group was hoping “through our investment in City Markets the right tenant will come along”.

Mr Butler added that that Hurricane Dorian’s devastation had acted as “the catalyst” for the group’s interest in downtown Freeport, as there was a need for additional commercial and office space, and a number of potential locations had become available due to the storm.

“From our perspective this is the most important thing,” he told Tribune Business. “You cannot have a city of Freeport with no real commercial district. The level of vandalism and vagrants in downtown Freeport doesn’t speak to the spirit of the people of Grand Bahama.

“I think our investment in these buildings will ignite further investment in Grand Bahama and create real opportunities for the people of Freeport.”

Mr Butler said his stepping down from the chairmanship of two group entities, Milo Butler Corporation and Milo Butler & Sons Ltd, to be replaced by fellow family members, Allan Butler and Jevon Butler, was “really an indication of what happens with good governance”.

Noting that many family-owned businesses struggled with transition to a third and fourth generation, he added that while the group has “a bench of other leaders that can lead parts of the family enterprise” it was “hugely important” to get succession planning correct.

With a company’s “success or failure” hinging on its leadership, Franklyn Butler said succession planning was vital to maintaining the “philosophy, values and wealth” of a family-owned business that would otherwise be lost if it was sold to, and absorbed, into a formal corporate structure.

The Milo Butler group of companies has been in existence for “almost 100 years”. Milo Butler & Sons oversees the Milo Butler Mart on Blue Hill Road, the food distribution business on Peach Street, and the Flying Dutchman liquor store chain, while the Milo Butler Corporation focused on the family’s investments and shareholdings in various corporate entities.

Describing family-owned businesses as “the backbone” of the Bahamian economy, Franklyn Butler said they played a “huge” role in its success and the fostering of entrepreneurship in this nation.

While stepping down from the two chairmanships was “bittersweet”, he added that he will remain on one Board and be “spending a lot of time around the family council” that oversees the group’s affairs.

Franklyn Butler said the move will enable him to “focus on some other priorities that need 100 percent of my commitment”, including his role as Cable Bahamas’ president and chief executive. He added that he will also be available to provide advice if required to his successors.