Mr. Lauth and his partners came under fire last month for not having begun development at the site two years after signing a heads of agreement. At the time, Mr. Lauth explained that plans for the development had been completed and would be submitted to government shortly for approval.
On Friday, Mr. Lauth confirmed that his company had in fact submitted those plans, but was reluctant to say how long approval might take.
“I canﾒt speak to the timeframe because thatﾒs out of my hands, but we did file with Town Planning in Nassau and also with the subdivisions office,” he told the Journal.
After a preliminary meeting with town planning representatives in August, Mr. Lauth explained, the developers had to provide additional information, which they did when they made the formal application.
“We donﾒt invest to just let it sit, so obviously my investors are not happy that it hasnﾒt started,” Mr. Lauth said Friday. “I know the people on the island are frustrated. I know that the governmentﾒs been frustrated, but weﾒre doing the best we can and weﾒre trying to do this project the right way, as I said before.”
The authorities will review the EIC plans and decide whether to approve the plans. Should they grant approval, Mr. Lauthﾒs company can then begin the development process in earnest.
In August, Mr. Lauth explained that banks in The Bahamas require a “pre-sales programme” in order to approve the financing of the project. He said this meant that EIC cannot begin construction until the company completes that programme, whereby a certain percentage of the units must be pre-sold.
“And weﾒre very confident that weﾒre going to meet that pre-sale programme, but I canﾒt start the pre-sale programme until I get subdivision approval,” Mr. Lauth explained at the time.
On Friday, he told the Journal that he had filed for approval a few days after he had expected to.
“We had a preliminary meeting with the people at subdivisions and they asked us to get some additional stuff before we did the formal filing. We had a preliminary meeting with them on schedule, and then the following week we got the additional things they had requested to make the formal submission,” he said.
EIC plans to build a $6 million breakwater for a marina because the harbour at Governorﾒs Harbour is not protected. According to Mr. Lauth, the breakwater is so expensive because it will be engineered, designed and built to withstand category four and five hurricanes.
Along with the Park Hyatt hotel, the new French Leave Resort would also encompass Savannah Hill, which Mr. Lauth describes as “an upscale residential community,” a marina, restaurants, full-service spa and restaurants.
The investment is expected to be valued at about $100 million, and the development is supposed to be a model of what some call “green development.” For example, EIC plans to use wind turbines to supplement up to 35 percent of the resortﾒs energy needs, and solar energy for all hot water usage in the condo-tel residences, the pools and for common area lighting.
“We looked at solar technology, which weﾒre absolutely going to pursue for heating hot water and for heating the pools,” Mr. Lauth told the Journal, “and we are actively pursuing a bio-diesel plant to run all of our maintenance equipment on bio-diesel fuels to further reduce the (dependence on) fuel ﾖ not to do it because itﾒs the ﾑgreenﾒ thing to do, but because itﾒs the right thing to do.”
The developers are currently “milling” all Casuarinas (Australian Pines) throughout their property, noting that this tree is “infamous for being invasive and detrimental for growth around them.” EIC plans to use the finished wood on buildings throughout the property and saw dust from the milling as “mulch” for many of the plantings throughout the resort.
Of 34 acres, EIC plans to use only about 10 acres for the residences and support buildings, with the remaining space open, “much like a park.”
By: Quincy Parker, The Bahama Journal
