President of Poseidon Undersea Resorts and submarine buff, L. Bruce Jones, told the Bahama Journal from his Idaho office on Monday that over the past year, his company has been working to secure all of the necessary financing for the project, a goal he said the company is “very close” to achieving.
The project would feature 22 rooms underwater, a revolving bar and restaurant combination, a conference room and two larger suites facing coral gardens that light up at night, he has indicated.
International reports reveal that Poseidon obtained half of its $40 million in construction costs through equity investments from 17 individuals, and the other half from bank loans and private debt.
Mr. Jones is hoping to meet with Bahamas government officials within the next three months.
“The primary impetus for us has always been to get the developmentﾴs design to a point where we were completely happy with it and thatﾴs a fairly technical undertaking,” he said.
“We have been working on that for three years. The original version of the resort that we were working with was just too expensive at $3,600 per square foot.”
Mr. Jones said this has since been reduced to $1,800 per square foot.
He said after looking at a number of locations worldwide, there was just something about Eleuthera that made it more attractive than any other destination.
“We have found a location that really suits our requirements,” Mr. Jones said, noting that the coral reef system off Eleuthera is spectacular. “We want to put the resort in about 50 feet of water and itﾴs fairly unusual to find a bottom profile where this can happen. So we found a spot that we think is perfect.”
He said the company also likes Eleuthera because it is relatively low key.
“We recognize that it doesnﾴt get a lot of tourist traffic and itﾴs quite close to Miami and Fort Lauderdale. We would like to operate our own aircraft back and forth from these points into Eleuthera. So itﾴs convenient from that perspective,” Mr. Jones said.
He told The Bahama Journal that a lot of time has been invested to ensure that the project is “exceedingly safe with very little, if any environmental impact.”
“Our principal business is the tourist submarine business and worldwide these carry about two million passengers a year and they are very environmentally-sensitive; they are all battery powered, never come in contact with coral reefs and really help to promote environmental stewardship,” he said.
“So we are applying the same principle to the resort. It is completely self-contained. There is no sewerage discharge and it doesnﾴt take any space from the coral reefs.”
According to Mr. Jones, the resort would also have an automatic cleaning system that uses water jets, eliminating the need for divers in the water at all times.
To date, he said, no one has expressed concern about the projectﾴs possible impact on the environment. Mr. Jones added that an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) would certainly be completed and submitted to the government.
The Florida entrepreneurﾴs novel idea ideally focuses on an undersea hotel that would connect to the mainland through two tunnels and an escalator.
While the $40 million project would be submerged 50 feet below the sea, Mr. Jones said its pressure would be the same as at the surface.
He has revealed that the main structure would be built in Florida and transported via barge to the coast of Eleuthera where the final construction would take place.
Mr. Jones also explained that because of its modular design, each of the resortﾴs rooms would be put in place independently and detached from the overall structure, if maintenance is required. A double door would also isolate each module in case of leaks.
“We expect the construction process to go pretty quickly,” he said
According to Mr. Jones, guests can expect to see a large variety of tropical fish, but sleeping with the fish would not come cheap. Rooms would cost $1,500 a night and, according to Mr. Jones, there is already a demand for them.
Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal
