Olesen had entered into an agreement with developer and businessman Erik Christiansen for the Lucaya Marina Village last year and received government approval in March.
Now, the chairman and chief executive officer of the Grand Bahama Yacht Club plans to transform the Lucaya area by merging the two marinas, constructing a condo hotel, a condominium and town house development and a beach club on Taino Beach.
The total investment is said to be in the neighbourhood of $500 million.
“We are ready to roll,” said an excited Olesen yesterday who came to the island as a boater 10 years ago.
He had also recently purchased the remaining stocks of New Hope Holding Company Limited from Christiansen which owns the Ferry House Restaurant in Port Lucaya and a great portion of the land around Bell Channel.
The businessman, who has for many years developed commercial, industrial and residential projects in Florida, revealed his intent to capitalize on the huge market for mega yachts.
“Right now as we speak, there’s 5.4 miles of mega yachts under construction world-wide and a very large number of these yachts will be coming in here,” he said.
In that vein, Olesen says a mega yacht rendezvous is planned for Grand Bahama in November and since they expect some 35 mega yachts here, the size of the boat slips will have to change to accommodate larger boats.
The Grand Bahama Yacht Club has mounted a serious marketing campaign to attract mega yachters to the island, primarily with the boating press like Yachts International and Showboat Magazine and at boat shows since last October.
“All these yacht owners all spent a lot of money to buy these new boats and they need places to go and the best way to reach them of course is through all the yachting magazines and they are writing us up all of them now.”
The developer pointed out that the influx of boaters to the island will mean good news for everyone, including shopkeepers and restaurant owners.
“We’re getting a lot of exposure here and of course that’s bringing a lot of people with deep pockets over here both to invest perhaps in homes and also to spend here,” he said.
With plans in the works for some time, Olesen says construction will be immediate and added that heavy duty construction equipment and supplies arrived here on the weekend.
“What we’re going to be doing here shortly is we’re going to bring everything three dimensional. When you pull in here it’s going to be a much nicer looking facility,” he said.
In fact, Olesen says homes are being built up to values of $12 million at the old Lucayan Marina Village.
Demonstrating how fast moving the entire project is, the developer noted that ground is expected to be broken within the next three to four weeks for the start of construction on the condo hotel.
He revealed that the final details are being completed and with clearing permits already in hand, it will take approximately four months to put the roof on the building and a year to complete the project.
The $60 million condo development will include 240 bedrooms which actually amounts to 62 condos that are mostly four-bedroom suites.
The concept is primarily aimed to attract travelling golfers and the project is directly across the street from the golf course.
He assured that everything will remain open, the jobs were secure and the investment would actually create employment opportunities for Bahamians in the construction and operational phase.
“We’re not going to be closing anything down. We’re going to be fully operational through the whole building process for sure.”
Prime Minister Perry Christie was on hand to witness the signing and pointed out that the overall project also includes 300 condominium and town houses.
He explained his optimism in the efforts to promote and redefine the business community in Freeport and the tourism environment in Freeport and Grand Bahama.
The nation’s leader sees the “handsome” investment as an addition to the island and the investor as someone who can help government promote Grand Bahama as a first-class, world-class tourist destination.
He noted that one or two places in the Caribbean and New Providence are presently doing their best to attract mega yachts and give them a home.
He expressed the greatest degree of confidence in the future of Grand Bahama, reiterating that the island, notwithstanding the capital, will be hard-pressed not to take the lead in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas with its proximity to Florida and the present and future investments.
He pointed out that in the coming weeks everyone will be able to see and hear of the reasons why he has expressed unbridled optimism about the future of Grand Bahama.
“It’s happening and it’s happening now and even the blind will be able to see it,” adding, too, that he will return for the ground-breaking for the condominium development.
GBPA Chairman Hannes Babak stressed the $20 million condo hotel project to be constructed at the rear of the marina will be a good investment for the island as it will bode well for the employment of many Bahamians.
GBPA Chief Executive Officer Sir Albert Miller pointed out that the purchase of the marina also includes the strip of land to build the condo hotel.
“We think that he will deliver on his various promises and it can do nothing but good for Freeport. It can do nothing but expand the area of Port Lucaya and the hotels in this area,” he said.
By LEDEDRA MARCHE, Senior Freeport News Reporter
