Smith calls on PM to work with him to fix Paradise Island Lighthouse

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamian entrepreneur battling to restore Paradise Island’s lighthouse yesterday argued that its lantern would never have been destroyed if the Government had allowed his $3m project to proceed.

Toby Smith, principal of Paradise Island Lighthouse and Beach Club Company, urged Prime Minister Philip Davis KC to partner with him and “let’s get it done” rather than continue their legal fight after the more than two centuries’ old lighthouse - first structure cruise passengers and watercraft see as they approach Nassau Harbour - suffered a fresh blow from Tropical Storm Imelda.

Speaking to Tribune Business after he published a Facebook video yesterday, he revealed that the lighthouse lantern - which had been hanging precariously for some time - is now in a broken, mangled heap at the property’s base after finally being blown down during Sunday’s storm.

With windows blown out, timbers and panelling rotting and steel braces corroding, Mr Smith told this newspaper that he “can start tomorrow” to reverse the lighthouse’s decay and transform its appearance provided the Government ends their courtroom battle and resistance to granting him two Crown Land leases of two two and three-acre parcels, respectively, at Paradise Island’s western end.

“My mission was to truly restore the Paradise Island Lighthouse, which would take about 18 months to do, and the Government have stalled for 14 years, including the last five years since they offered me the lease that I was approved for,” Mr Smith said.  

“The Bahamas government wants to say it’s open to investors when it’s only open to a select few, and most Bahamians don’t qualify for that...Legitimate Bahamian businesses that are trying to create employment, despite the unemployment numbers being higher than before, are held back by lack of opportunity because at some point they will need government approval.”

Mr Smith’s legal battle with the Government over whether the Crown Land lease seemingly agreed with the former Minnis administration is valid, and legally binding on both parties, has now reached the Privy Council. However, in the meantime, the Paradise Island Lighthouse - a building of historical and cultural significance - is continuing to deteriorate and decay to the point where it is now an eyesore.

“The historical significance of the Hog Island Lighthouse is, one, it was the first lighthouse built in the West Indies in 1817,” Mr Smith told this newspaper. “It has not received structural beautification in more than 50 years, and it’s significance as a navigational aid to the sea-faring traffic is lost with modern lighthouses.

“While it is an integral part of Bahamian history and culture, it is a historical representation of the neglect of structures in The Bahamas and a decrepit, sad sight for everybody entering the western entrance of Nassau Harbour. It’s a poor first impression, not only to our visitors, but the way we can be viewed as a people looking after our structures.”

Mr Smith argued that the Paradise Island Lighthouse’s disrepair would have been reversed if his project had been given the go-ahead by the Government. It is no longer competing with Royal Caribbean for the same three-acre Crown Land parcel after the cruise line eliminated this from its Royal Beach Club venture and reduced its needs to a separate four-acre parcel.

He pledged that he still wants “to fully restore the Paradise Island Lighthouse at no cost so that Bahamians and our guests can enjoy the cultural and historical significance of the oldest lighthouse in The Bahamas with safe access and a sustainable, low-impact beach club that will generate revenues to support the lighthouse’s successful operation and provide free access to the beach for Bahamians and residents”.

“The initial investment was $3m,” Mr Smith told Tribune Business, “which would eventually become tens of millions of dollars to be reinvested in the project, and with a staff of 60 jobs for Bahamians only initially, which would grow exponentially and partner with other Bahamian businesses.

“Yes, yes, the fight can stop simply by the Prime Minister instructing Ryan Pinder KC, the attorney general, to end the legal battle and we get on as friends and business partners and show the world a successful Bahamian business on a global platform.

“We can start tomorrow. We have everything we need except the Crown Land lease, which the Government is holding in its hands. Financing has been ready for the last 14 years. Come on, Brave, let’s get it done.”

Sir Michael Barnett, then-president of the Court of Appeal, in his March 14, 2024, verdict split the court with a dissenting ruling that he would order “specific performance of the lease” by the Government as Mr Smith had “a binding agreement” to lease five Crown Land acres - split into two separate parcels - for a beach break-type destination.

He also found that the then-Minnis administration did not sign the agreement with Mr Smith because it “determined that it had found a better deal” - namely Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines’ Royal Beach Club project, which itself wanted to lease three of the same acres sought by the Bahamian entrepreneur.

However, Sir Michael’s dissenting verdict did not prove decisive, as his two fellow justices on the three-strong Court of Appeal panel rendered the majority decision in favour of the Government by finding the reverse - that no valid, legally binding lease agreement was in place. This is the decision Mr Smith has now got permission to challenge at the Privy Council level.

Appeal justice Gregory Smith, in the majority Court of Appeal verdict, said Richard Hardy, then acting head of the Department of Lands and Surveys, sent Mr Smith and his company a letter headlined “approval for Crown Land lease”. This covered a two and three-acre parcel, respectively, with the first adjacent to the lighthouse at Paradise Island’s western end and the other for the ‘beach break’ destination.

The letter contained instructions on how the attached lease documents were to be signed, dated, sealed and notarised, then returned to the Department of Lands and Surveys. Once the minister responsible for Crown Lands, who was then Dr Minnis, signed a copy of the lease was to be returned to Mr Smith.

The Bahamian entrepreneur signed the lease forwarded by Mr Hardy, and returned it to the Government for execution two days later on January 9, 2020. Dr Minnis, though, did not sign the lease on the Government’s behalf as it emerged that Royal Caribbean had rival designs on the three-acre Crown Land parcel for its own Royal Beach Club project.

Sir Michael, though, disagreed and said he would have ordered “specific performance of the lease” by the Government. Describing Mr Hardy’s letter as being of “major importance”, the Court of Appeal president said the letter was headlined “approval for Crown lease” and did not say or suggest there were any matters left to be agreed between the parties.

“In my judgment, the critical question in this appeal is whether the letter of January 2020 evidenced a binding agreement between the appellant and the minister for the lease of five acres of land on Paradise Island,” Sir Michael wrote. “The Chief Justice formed the view that there was no concluded agreement.

“It is difficult to see how it can be said that there was no concluded agreement. The lease sent on January 7, 2020, had been prepared by the respondent’s [Attorney General’s] lawyers on the respondent’s instructions. There was nothing further to be negotiated and agreed....

“The document reflecting the terms of the agreement was sent by the respondent to the appellant for signature. All that was left was for the respondent to sign and seal the lease. He did not do so because the Government determined that it had found a better deal.”

Comments

Sickened says...

The PLP don't do anything unless there is money to be made. Dealing with white boy mean's it will be done as cost effectively as possible and at the highest quality.

No side deals or padded contracts means no PLP involvement.

Posted 1 October 2025, 10:49 a.m. Suggest removal

TalRussell says...

I too as a means will finally brung an end to this decade old storm, for the "Brave" Premiership to be brave so as to cut a path to grant sufficient land for Comrade Toby to construct a little Hog Island Lighthouse keeper cottage for himself and his dog. --- Yes?

Posted 1 October 2025, 2:42 p.m. Suggest removal

hrysippus says...

RCL will fix the lighthouse in due course if their prospectus is to be believed. The obstacle in their way is a legal dispute with a Bahamian who seems to want to gain control himself. The last that was reported was that the "captain" was going to appeal to the Privy Council, I suspect such hyperbole probably belongs in the privy, the outside one......sigh

Posted 1 October 2025, 9:33 p.m. Suggest removal

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