EDITOR, The Tribune. 

After watching the spectacle surrounding the signing of the Heads of Agreement for the Grand Lucayan last Thursday, one could not help but wonder if this was another case where “birds of a feather, flock together”.

If you have a publicity seeking developer that loves making big announcements about large high-profile projects and a desperate government seeking to show progress in its sale of the Grand Lucayan ahead of a general election, we have the perfect atmosphere for two “birds of a feather” flocking together.

Everyone in The Bahamas remembers the fanfare surrounding the FTX debacle. We all remember the hundreds of pictures with the Prime Minister and his usual hostages celebrating at ground-breaking and other ceremonies.

Not too long after the fanfare of those high profile celebrations, FTX was bankrupt, the irreverent, publicity seeking, short-pants wearing CEO was in prison and millions of dollars were owed to Bahamian companies from Podoleo Street to Albany. We then discovered that the usual friends, family and other suspects were some of the prime financial beneficiaries of that debacle.

A quick internet search about the announced developer of the Grand Lucayan site, Conrad Wilshire, will show a history of grand announcements for very large resort developments from South Florida to Las Vegas with none coming to fruition. In particular, the South Florida development involved the announced $550m redevelopment of the Diplomat in Hallandale and the other, according to the New York Times, was the announced $1.2 billion proposed Maxim hotel, casino and entertainment complex in Las Vegas.

Both of these failures are easily found online. After gaining the high profile publicity, Conrad Wilshire appears to have a habit of flipping its purchases as soon as possible to other buyers with the new buyer of the land not following through on the grand project that was initially proposed.

In that regard, we note that the government has essentially sold 216 acres of prime high quality beachfront land for $120m according to the press release. At $556,000 per acre that is a bargain for such property in Freeport. We also note another concerning phrase in the Conrad Wilshire press release: “we are very focused on selecting only the best partners for the Grand Lucayan Resort as we thoughtfully deploy our capital. Every element of this resort is being financed independently of the other elements”.

This clearly means that Conrad Wilshire is not providing the announced $827m in investments. This Heads of Agreement now enables Conrad Wilshire to use the publicity garnered, with the fulsome assistance of the government of The Bahamas, to now search for the real and majority investors needed to deliver on the rendering that was shared with the public.

We note from the press release that the developers plan to demolish the existing buildings and we presume that the substantial cost associated with the demolition and clearance of the debris is the responsibility of the new developers and not the government.

We also note that after demolition of the existing buildings with 1,270 keys, the developer plans to build accommodations with 470 keys [350 hotel + 120 timeshare] which is a loss of 800 hotel rooms from that site in Grand Bahama.

This comes at a time when The Bahamas, according to the Deputy Prime Minister, is already suffering from a need for more rooms to accommodate the far, far more lucrative stopover visitor.

We can assure the public that those 470 keys will not provide sufficient traffic to support any significant investment in the international airport in Grand Bahama. We can further assure the public that the projected number of permanent jobs for the new development falls far short of the numbers once employed by a fully operating 1,270 key casino resort and golf course.

And finally, the information rich press release tells the public that the proposed redevelopment will be “home to a 36-acre cruise ship destination resort with a capacity of 10,000 passengers per day, open to all cruise lines”.

It is clear that none of the three Carnival Corporation cruise lines currently serving The Bahamas will patronise the facility. Further, other recent press reports confirm that the government has approved the purchases of sites by Royal Caribbean and Celebrity cruises comprising 40 acres of land that include the Xanadu hotel site.

It is well known that the Royal Caribbean Group and MSC Cruises have been in discussions to develop the nearby Billy Cay cruise port jointly. If all of these come to pass, which major cruise lines will use the cruise ship destination within the Grand Lucayan redevelopment that is “open to all cruise lines”?

So, for the sake of the people of Grand Bahama, we are praying that this is not yet another case of our gullible and desperate government being hoodwinked by a developer who loves making big announcements for plans that they never complete. If this project becomes the exception to that general rule for these two publicity seeking “birds of a feather”, we and the people of Grand Bahama would be most grateful and most delighted.

FTW

May 19, 2025.