By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamian entrepreneur locked in a legal battle with the Government over his Crown Land lease on Paradise Island is “pressing on regardless” with efforts to raise $3m to fund his ambition.

Toby Smith, the Paradise Island Lighthouse and Beach Club head, told Tribune Business that reaction to-date has been “favourable” with the institutions and high-net worth individuals he has approached viewing the proposed lighthouse restoration and beach club as “an attractive proposition”.

Acknowledging that no investor was likely to fully commit until his Crown Land lease is assured, and the court battle with the Government has ended, he nevertheless pledged to forge ahead in a bid to find what will likely be “a single investor” whose financing can bring his vision for Colonial Beach to life.

Optimistic that the change in government to the Davis administration will help bring resolution to a long-running battle that also involves Royal Caribbean’s Royal Beach club project, which wants two of the five acres he is seeking, Mr Smith confirmed: “I’ve been dealing with this administration, working with them, and have no doubt we’re on the right track.

“One avenue that I’m continuing to pursue, while working with the Government, is to find the right investor, which will likely be a single investor. The response has been favourable in asking to participate in the project. I’m targeting quality, sophisticated institutions and individual investors.

“It’s very professional what I am doing. It’s not begging for $10 here and there; it’s so we can narrow it down to a single investor to convert their interest into participation in the project. The response has been favourable, and they wish the court matter to be behind us so we can push ahead,” he continued.

“While investors agree it is an attractive proposition, they’d like to see the matter of the lease resolved sooner rather than later. I’m pressing on regardless, and am receiving good responses from people I have spoken to on it. I have a good network of potential investors who have given me positive feedback, and all sides are being reasonable and realistic.”

Mr Smith spoke after Tribune Business was informed that he was moving ahead with efforts to raise $3m via a private placement. One contact even expressed surprise that he was seeking to raise financing given that he had previously said the necessary funding was in place.

Royal Caribbean has steadily amassed around 13.5 acres on Paradise Island’s western end by buying out private landowners in the area, but it is also seeking to lease some ten acres of crown land in the Colonial Beach area to complete its Royal Beach Club development as part of a total $110m investment billed as creating $26m in annual local spend and 200 full-time jobs.

This has brought it into potential conflict with Mr Smith, who is seeking himself to lease two crown land parcels at Paradise Island’s western end, one of which involves two acres around the lighthouse and another three acres for the “beach break” element of his own $2m project. Two of the acres sought by Mr Smith are included in Royal Caribbean’s Crown Land lease.

Mr Smith’s court action is alleging that he was granted a valid crown land lease over both parcels, including the lighthouse and the area at Colonial Beach for his “beach break” destination, which is now legally binding. The case is based on a January 7, 2020, letter from Richard Hardy, acting director of Lands and Surveys, that was headlined “approval for crown land lease” over the two tracts he wanted.

The Government, or at least the former Minnis administration, is disputing this. However, the former prime minister urged his investments chief to give a Bahamian entrepreneur “all the assistance necessary” to ensure his success only to snub him 12 months later for Royal Caribbean.

Tribune Business has seen e-mails showing that Dr Hubert Minnis was extremely keen for the Paradise Island Lighthouse and Beach Club project to succeed when he contacted Candia Ferguson, then-director of investments at the Bahamas Investment Authority (BIA), in early 2019.

Responding to Mr Smith’s request for meetings with multiple government agencies, including the Department of Lands and Surveys and Antiquities, Monuments and Museums Corporation (AMMC), in an effort to move his project forward, Dr Minnis wrote: “Candia, kindly ensure Toby receives all the assistance necessary... He must be assisted to ensure success.”

That e-mail was sent on January 22, 2019, which is almost exactly one year prior to the then-Minnis administration’s decision to hold-off signing Mr Smith’s Crown Land lease for a total five acres - one two-acre parcel around the Paradise Island lighthouse, and another three acres further east - after Royal Caribbean expressed its interest in obtaining the latter parcel for its Royal Beach Club.