At the ceremony, Prime Minister Perry Christie applauded the efforts of the investor, Preben Olesen, chairman of New Hope Holding Limited, in developing the resort, which he said should aid the governmentﾒs quest to re-brand the island, “making it a resort destination second to none.”
“Weﾒre talking about a hotel with 62 suites, which broken down is 240 rooms. So it lends itself not just to persons buying, but people who have money. And therefore weﾒre not just talking about purchases from people who come in with their yachts, but who will come in to make Freeport their golfing home,” Prime Minister Christie said.
Mr. Olesen said the new Grand Bahama Golf Suites will employ hundreds of Bahamians during the construction phase as well as permanent employees once completed in about a year.
“Even though it is intended primarily for golfers, we already have several boat owners giving us orders for these units here, so we have pre-sold quite a number of units and once we get this phase up and running weﾒre going to have a lot of staff to build the hotelﾅAnd of course once we get going, get it open, we will certainly employ a lot more people here,” Mr. Olesen said.
“We currently have on our staff now more than 100 people.”
Meanwhile, New Hope Holding, which owns the Grand Bahama Yacht Club, sent out a release pointing to its acquisition of Port Lucaya Marina as part of the companyﾒs $500 million, 70-acre waterfront expansion surrounding Bell Channel Bay.
The project, which is well underway, includes 300 yacht slips (available by the day, week, month, year or even a 99-year lease) and 300 new luxurious waterfront condominiums, townhouses and private residences, the company said.
Port Lucaya Marina is situated just across the bay from Grand Bahama Yacht Club and with easy access to these two facilities, yachtsmen will have every conceivable amenity at their fingertips, the company also said.
Adjacent to the marina is Port Lucaya Marketplace, a waterfront six-acre shopping, dining and entertainment complex with island motif and a bandstand at Count Basie Square. The legendary jazz pianist built a home in Freeport. Entertainment includes jazz, rhythm and blues, limbo, reggae, fire dancers, Junkanoo and more.
In recent years, increasingly more yachtsmen have made landfall at Grand Bahama Island, extending their cruising range and sampling the delights of the Bahamas.
Recognizing this trend, New Hope Holding said it has embarked on an ambitious transformation of the well-known Port Lucaya area into an upscale lifestyle destination with state-of-the-art marinas, restaurants, shopping, casino, offices and luxurious residences.
Future plans for the Port Lucaya Marina include a reconfiguration to accommodate the substantial number of megayachts being built worldwide and the dredging of the Bell Channel to 13-feet to accommodate the bigger yachts. Additionally, both Grand Bahama Yacht Club and Port Lucaya Marina will combine to shape the megayacht marina metamorphosis.
“The transformation of the Lucaya area into a multimillion-dollar yachting paradise is steadily under way,” Mr. Olesen said.
“One of the first things we did when we got involved with Grand Bahama Yacht Club was to change the size of the boat slips to accommodate the larger yachts. Quickly it became obvious that the Port Lucaya Marina would really give us the ability to cater to a fast growing megayacht market and provide all of the amenities these yacht owners expect in a world-class destination.”
Mr. Olesen has assured all of the employees at Port Lucaya Marina that they will be retained by New Hope Holding.
“We have put together two of the finest teams of employees I have ever worked with,” he said.
“I think the people at Port Lucaya Marina and the people at Grand Bahama Yacht Club make a fantastic team. They are all pros and know the yacht industry,” he said.
By: Cournee Romer, The Bahama Journal
