The deal for the sale of billionaire hotelier Phil Ruffinﾴs Cable Beach properties is not final yet, but Mr. Ruffin is apparently making plans to spend the millions of dollars he hopes to get from the sale of his Wyndham Nassau Resort and the Nassau Beach Hotel.
Mr. Ruffin told the Associated Press that he intends to use the revenue to finance the redevelopment of the New Frontier Hotel Casino in Las Vegas.
He was not available yesterday to give more details on his plans because he is in South Africa to ring in the New Year, according to a spokesperson at his Nevada resort.
Meanwhile, officials of the Baha Mar Development group, a consortium of major US and European investors, are making ﾓgoodﾒ headway in negotiating an agreement with the government to redevelop Cable Beach into a first class product, according to one source close to the negotiations.
The group is also negotiating for the sale of the government-owned Radisson Cable Beach Resort.
When finalized, the Cable Beach development promises to employ 4,700 Bahamians on wages estimated at $125 million on renovations and construction alone. The deal is expected to be a $1.2 billion investment for Baha Mar.
But the group first has to come up with the money for the sale of Mr. Ruffinﾴs hotels.
Meanwhile, the American hotelier is involved in other investment projects.
In that interview with the Associated Press, Mr. Ruffin also revealed that apart from the redevelopment of New Frontier, he plans to enter into an agreement with multi-billionaire Donald Trump.
The two hoteliers plan to construct a $300 million, 64-story condo-hotel behind the New Frontier. Mr. Ruffin said 913 of the 1,260 planned units have already been sold.
Similarly, Ruffinﾴs transformation of New Frontier promises to propel the aging resort into a 3,000-room mega resort ﾖ taking its rightful place among the elite of Las Vegas, according to the AP.
Meanwhile, it remains unclear when Mr. Ruffin intends to finalize the sale of his Cable Beach hotels to the local development group.
The groupﾴs principals say that the development will help transform the Bahamian tourism product.
Perez Clarke, The Bahama Journal
