By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A “pretty dead” Paradise Island property market has been “reignited” by a $550m investment that has “put eyeballs back” on nearby developments such as Ocean Club Estates, realtors asserted yesterday.

Ryan Knowles, founder and chief executive of Maison Bahamas, told Tribune Business that the construction start for the Four Seasons Ocean Club Residences is acting as “a rising tide that is lifting” activity elsewhere on Paradise Island following a ten-year period when international buyers have mostly been drawn to gated communities in western New Providence.

Amid the ongoing competition with the likes of Albany, Old Fort Bay and Lyford Cay, he added that Paradise Island’s “storied history” as a destination for high-end clients, coupled with per square foot prices that offer buyers “more bang for the buck” than western New Providence rivals, have “revitalised” the location’s high-end market.

“Ocean Club Estates went through a period when, for a couple of years, it was pretty dead coming off the COVID pandemic,” Mr Knowles told this newspaper. “Now, with Four Seasons doing a project there with the Residences - I think it’s over a $300m project - it’s revitalised, reignited the Paradise Island luxury market and Ocean Club Estates is the prime community there. It’s reaping the benefits.”

Maison Bahamas, in a recent e-mail entitled The Ocean Club Insider, said some 11 property transactions have either closed or are pending completion in that community for 2025 to-date. And a further 20 homes and units are being marketed for sale to potential buyers.

The median Ocean Club Estates sales price year-to-date is $3.538m, with properties spending an average of 200 days on the market and sellers receiving the equivalent of $872 per square foot. The 91 percent list-to-sales price ratio detailed in the report signals that buyer demand remains strong and that sellers in the community are, on average, receiving more than nine-tenths of their asking price. 

“Market activity in Ocean Club Estates or Paradise Island is quite sturdy. Sturdy would be the best way to describe it,” Mr Knowles added. “There’s a lot of positive outlooks for the property market primarily due to the Four Seasons project that is now underway. That project has already broken ground. They’ve started to do site work and prepare it for vertical construction.

“What we’ve seen in Ocean Club Estates specifically is that market participants, because it’s so close from a proximity perspective, the rising tide is lifting the market because people are putting attention back on Paradise Island. For the last ten years they all searched out west because there was more development. You had projects like Albany which were new and had exciting amenities.

“A lot of the luxury shifted west for the past ten years, and what we’re seeing with Four Seasons is that it’s putting eyeballs back on Paradise Island. Paradise Island has a storied history with all the ‘A list’ celebrities visiting the destination, the Fortune 500 leaders. The Ocean Club resort has a history of attracting those guests.”

Pointing to other recent investments by the likes of Sterling Global Financial, which has invested several hundred million in transforming the former Hurricane Hole into Paradise Landing, Mr Knowles added: “Paradise Island has a lot going for it and, in the case of Ocean Club Estates, if you compare it to Albany, Old Fort Bay or even Lyford Cay, on a price per square foot basis you get a lot more value, a lot more bang for your buck.

“When folks hear this new Four Seasons Residences is being built in a place such as Paradise Island in The Bahamas, a lot of them pay attention and come and see for themselves. Those people who do not purchase there will look elsewhere. I think it’s great for Paradise Island.”

Mario Carey, principal of MCR Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Bahamas, who specialises in Paradise Island real estate sales, confirmed to Tribune Business that he and other realtors are “seeing a lot of activity. That is a very real trend, and we will see more as that project move along”.

He also backed Mr Knowles over Paradise Island’s price comparisons, noting that condominium units are selling for between $800 to $1,000 per square foot compared to $1,500 at Albany. And, with talk of a school being developed on Paradise Island, Mr Carey said the only thing lacking was a gas station for the destination to provide a full suite of amenities and services to guests.

“There’s not a lot of inventory, but the Four Seasons, we are all speaking the language,” the MCR Better Homes and Gardens principal said. “We know it will have a positive impact. There’s a lot of activity on the condos. We’ve been selling quite a lot. There’s been an active condo market.

“People tend to base things on price per square foot in condos. It’s anything from $800 to $1,000 per square foot for a condo on the harbour waterfront. That’s a pretty good deal. Four Seasons is getting up to $3,500 per square foot.”

Mr Carey said Paradise Island is also benefiting from new restaurants, such as Carnivale at Paradise Landing, with that same destination’s food store now also open. Doctors Hospital’s recently-opened facility, together with a physiotherapist’s office and pharmacy, also mean medical services are readily available for residents.

Suggesting that the Four Seasons project will create “another level of excitement”, Mr Carey added: “It’s all good for Paradise Island. Paradise Island is a special place. It’s over the bridge. It’s a different market. We have talk of a school that keeps coming up.

“We have all the services; food stores, pharmacies, restaurants, cafe places. If you have a school, all you need is a gas station and you are really set. That seems to be getting some momentum. I don’t have too many details but there is talk of a school.”

The $550m “total investment” in the Four Seasons Ocean Club Residences is forecast to deliver a “resounding” $721m boost for the Bahamian economy during its first 20 years in operation.

The projected impact from the project, which is to be constructed on a 6.15 acre site on Paradise Island’s Casino Drive, was disclosed in the development’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) which revealed that the 391 full-time employees will enjoy a combined $223m in income spread over its first two decades.

Some $340m, or 62 percent, of the $550m upfront investment is earmarked for “local construction” spend with an “average” 827 workers required over the 43-month build-out. The EIA forecast the project will generate some $67m in income for Bahamian construction workers.

Access Industries, the existing Ocean Club’s owner, has partnered with Florida-based real estate developer, Two Roads Development, and the high-end Four Seasons resort brand to develop the 67 private residences that will be priced between $6.5m and $23m.

Once fully completed, an economic impact assessment by Tourism Economics projected that visitors attracted by the Ocean Club Residences will grow by more than 3,000 or 53.8 percent during the first five years in operation - from 5,695 to 8,760 in 2031. And, over that same period, total spend by these visitors will expand by $8m or 67 percent - from $11.9m to $19.9m.

Visitor volumes, including both unit owners and guests, are ultimately forecast to stabilise at around 8,800 per annum. The biggest boost to government revenues would occur during the three-year construction phase, according to Tourism Economics’ analysis, with tax breaks or incentives/concessions slightly exceeding revenues to the Public Treasury during the first 20 years of full-time operations.

These incentives will likely include a real property tax waiver, but the assessment projected that the $197.2m in total government revenues generated by the project in its first 23 years - construction and full-time operations - will “outweigh” the cumulative $158.9m in tax breaks/concessions by a factor or ratio of 1.2 times.

The jobs and economic activity generated by the extra visitors attracted by the Ocean Club Residences will be used to justify the tax incentives received by the project, which are estimated at around $6m-$7m per year during the first 20 years of operation.