By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A well-known Freeport marina is “under contract” to be sold as part of a deal involving construction of a new 200-unit condo hotel, Tribune Business confirmed yesterday.

James Sarles, principal of James Sarles Realty, said the Port Lucaya Marina’s pending acquisition by a Florida-based investor was one of several investments that could “return Freeport to life in 2022”.

He said the marina deal, together with projects such as Doctors Hospital’s planned Grand Bahama expansion, the Western Atlantic University Medical School and the O2 Resort development, had left Freeport “at the precipice for the first time” when it came to significant economic growth.

With this activity somewhat contradicting recent comments by the Prime Minister suggesting that investor interest in Grand Bahama was “waning”, Mr Sarles suggested Philip Davis QC may have been seeking to “light a fire to get everything moving”.

The realtor, who represented Port Lucaya Marina’s purchaser in the deal, said: “Officially, it’s under contract. There’s still some work to be done, and things to do with the Port Authority, but it’s a great opportunity for Grand Bahama because it’s someone in the marine business and will transform the whole Port Lucaya area.

“It’s going to have yachts, and it’s going to bring jobs and activity here. It’s a serious, serious player. It’s real. It’s very exciting. I can confirm it’s under contract, but I cannot release the name. It’s someone who has the funds and the vision to truly transform the Port Lucaya Marina and adjacent properties.

“I’m here looking at the Port Lucaya Marina now. It’s sad, it’s empty. We need the hotel (Grand Lucayan), marina and Marketplace working together. I think this is a start; a catalyst of good things to come. I know they’re [the buyer] very strong in the yacht business. That’s what’s exciting. It’s someone who brings something to the table in terms of future business.”

While Mr Sarles did not divulge the purchaser’s identity, this newspaper understands its principal is a US, Florida-based investor with a strong background in the real estate and resort industries, and whose family has strong connections with The Bahamas and Caribbean. He is said to have been involved with billions of dollars worth of real estate sales and resort-related condo projects.

Preben Olsen, the Scandinavian investor who owns the Port Lucaya Marina via his New Hope Holdings entity, did not return Tribune Business calls or messages seeking comment on the sale before press time last night.

However, sources familiar with the transaction, and speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the sales agreement had been signed and that both parties were now working towards completing the necessary due diligence and legal documents so it can close. No details on the purchase price were provided.

Besides reviving the marina, which was closed after boating/yachting traffic dried up due to COVID-related restrictions and border closures, this newspaper understands that the purchaser’s plans also call for the development of a new 200-unit condo hotel on the Port Lucaya Hotel site.

These details were divulged in a note issued by the Dupuch & Turnquest law firm to its investor clients and other parties, which has been obtained by Tribune Business. Titled First time in 17 years, the note says: “I wanted to advise you that Freeport has good news on the tourism development front.”

It lists six active investment projects and deals, one of which is the Port Lucaya Marina transaction. The note said: “Major investors to buy Port Lucaya Marina to develop over 200-unit condo/hotel as a part of new marina project featuring mega yachts.”

This newspaper understands that there was also separate investor interest in acquiring Mr Olsen’s other asset, the Grand Bahama Yacht Club. Well-placed sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that S Kent Rockwell, one of the three philanthropists who helped to finance the First Commercial Centre’s purchase for Doctors Hospital, had inquired on the Yacht Club.

However, it is understood that negotiations on a potential deal between himself and Mr Olsen are not presently moving forward and appear to have stalled.

Besides Doctors Hospital’s new facility in Freeport’s First Commercial Centre and the Western Atlantic medical school, the Dupuch & Turnquest note also pointed the progress being made on Carnival’s cruise port as well as Weller Development’s acquisition of the former Marriott property at Barbary Beach for its own hotel project, as signs of a potential Freeport rebound.

This was echoed by Mr Sarles, who said that - taken together - they could provide a “springboard” for renewed investor confidence and economic optimism in Freeport after the city has spent almost two decades in the doldrums following the 2004 hurricanes and Royal Oasis closure.

“I’ve always said we’ve been the bridesmaid and never the bride,” he told Tribune Business. “Now we have Doctors Hospital coming to Grand Bahama with a first-class, first world hospital and trauma centre. We have Western Atlantic University Medical School. There have got their first class here. There’s doctors here, there’s professors here, there’s students’ parents.”

With the school’s 40-acre campus already “coming out of the ground”, Mr Sarles said it could attract hundreds of persons to live, work and study in Freeport. “There’s a project called the O2 Resort. It is high-end luxury homes as you enter the Bell Channel,” he added. “There’s Weller Development which bought the Marriott land.

“You put all these things together at the same time.... these are real projects that will bring endless jobs to the city and tourists coming in. We’re on our way. We’ve got to clean up the derelict buildings, we need a public-private partnership (PPP) for the airport and we need a buyer for the hotel.”

With the Grand Lucayan sales process now underway, and already receiving what the Government has described as “serious inquiries”, Mr Sarles said that success “could be the springboard for many things to happen”.

“I really, truly believe that we’re at the precipice for the first time,” he added. “There’s multiple projects happening simultaneously, and if we capitalise on those there’s real opportunity here. All these things I am talking about are not 100 percent complete. It’s a process, but I think 2022 will be the year Freeport comes back alive.”

Explaining that he felt someone had to give an account of the positive developments taking place, Mr Sarles added: “I feel somebody has got to be the bearer of good news. It’s too quiet. There’s no marketing, there’s no pizzazz. I figure from my perspective, and that of my business, I’ve got to start blowing the horn for what is going on here.