Prime Minister Perry Christie said The Bahamas is headed for unprecedented economic activity. The Prime Minister’s declaration was made during a ground-breaking ceremony for the new Charlotteville home and community development in western New Providence.
Positioned on prime land between Nassau International Airport and Old Fort Bay, some 140 out of the 205 lots in the upscale community have been sold to young Bahamian professionals. ﾠ
Prime Minister Christie said it is another step in a period of unprecedented economic activity in The Bahamas. “That is because we are now being seen to be a country that families can move to and feel safe and secure relative to what is happening in the world, and that there is a significant increase in the confidence level in The Bahamas, and as a result of that significant capital inflows continue to be the case in our country,” he said. ﾠ
With respect to New Providence, the Prime Minister said the development is happening while the third phase of Atlantis is underway, resulting in substantial increase in construction work.
Prime Minister Christie said his Government is also negotiating a significant development at Cable Beach he hopes developers are able to agree with his proposition as to what should take place.
“So I’m anticipating that we are making our way towards significant improvements at Cable Beach. It’s happening at a time when I have, thank God, paid Nancy Oates for the Clifton property and will therefore embark on what I would consider to be a regulated, major beach activity and theme park of a heritage nature where I propose at Clifton, which is not too far from this place, a heritage park replicating the Whylly estate,” he said. ﾠ
The Prime Minister said the heritage park will include evidence of the three civilisation that impacted New Providence and The Bahamas, the Lucayan Indians where there is evidence of two major villages pre-Columbian, evidence of the existence of slaves in The Bahamas pre-Loyalists, and Loyalists.
But to have a site that hopefully will be one of the world heritage sites ultimately and that could, in fact, be a wonderful addition to New Providence, particularly as it will be integrated into the wet lands that are there, the old forest and trees that are there and often reserve for future generations of our country, he said.
The Prime Minister also noted that the Government is discussing the rehabilitation and expansion of the South Ocean property and other associated housing developments of some significance for New Providence.
“That is to tell you that we are reaching some point in New Providence, where from the point of view of resort activities, we will be able to say we have now reached that point where there is the question of focusing not on expansion, but now on consolidation because tremendous attention is being paid to resort activity on this island, so as to ensure that this island becomes one of the world famous destinations in the world with the razzle dazzle and pizzazz that I expect to see here over the next five years,” he said.
The Prime Minister said this means that there must be suitable living accommodations, and that the design of the homes are in accord with the environment.
The project is being developed by Canadian Dale Bronstein, a real estate developer throughout Vancouver and the lower mainland of British Columbia for eight years before moving to The Bahamas in 1994. ﾠ
His company specialises in low-rise condominiums, commercial and retirement complexes. One redevelopment project won him high acclaim when he was awarded the Governor-General?s Award and the City of Vancouver Heritage Award for the conversion of a 60,000 sq ft, 100-year-old church into condominiums.
In 1994, Mr. Bronstein co-founded the New Providence Development Company on New Providence, which has since been actively developing land and building homes. The company boasts of successfully completing over 100 homes ranging in value from $35,000 to $10, 000,000.
The company also designed, serviced and developed the handsome canal front homesteads beside Lyford Cay, known as Islands at Old Fort. The Islands project employed over 300 Bahamian workers for almost five years. Bahamians almost exclusively run Mr. Bronstein’s projects. ﾠ
His current developments on New Providence include a 22-lot subdivision on the canal in Old Fort Bay with traditional Key West-style homes.
Charlotteville’s residents will be provided with 24-hour security, while living within easy reach of modern day amenities and conveniences minutes away from the Lyford Cay shopping centre to the west and Caves Point, Sandy Port Village and Cable Beach shopping and entertainment centres to the east.
The community is also five and 10 minutes away from Nassau International Airport and the Millionaire private jet centre respectively.
The infrastructure is expected to be completed by the end of December by local contractors. The major subcontractors are Colco Electric Company, Bahamas Hot Mix and Lemco Cable Design and Construction. ﾠ
“One can feel a level of comfort that those Bahamians, who have purchased property here in this subdivision, will in fact have that level of comfort and aesthetics acceptability that one would desire in all of those circumstances,” the Prime Minister said.
He noted that there is a significant demand for housing in The Bahamas for Bahamians as the economy grows stronger. “There will be a demand by Bahamians for suitable housing and therefore a market, and that demand goes from the housing being built and sponsored by the Minister of Housing to the kind of housing that will be built here,” the Prime Minister said.
“The challenge will be to ensure that we have the perfect balance between the accommodations we offer non-residents and the accommodations we offer residents.” ﾠ
He reiterated an announcement he made Sunday, January 9, that the Government is embarking on a buy back of beaches policy to ensure that the developments on New Providence with an estimated 200, 0000 people, take in the needs, aspirations and expectations of residents to have access to beaches.
“That is the prescription for orderly and wholesome growth and it is a prescription that I am commending and most certainly that my Government has accepted,” he said.
Referring to the development as upscale living at affordable prices, the Prime Minister said he hoped that with access to modern conveniences, that focus on native trees is a statement to the commitment to things natural and to have enough space for walking exercises.
“I’d like to say to those Bahamian contractors who are going to be here, to ensure that we are working towards training more Bahamians in the construction industry.
“We are going to be tested over the next several months because we are going to run out of Bahamians who are available to do the work,” he said.
Minister of Housing and National Insurance the Hon Shane Gibson said he is impressed with the master plan of the New Providence Development Company, which the Government feels will go a long way in helping to eliminate some of the housing needs in New Providence.
“When we look at what is being created here and what is being created at Old Fort Bay, we get a sense of more full-type of community being developed,” Minister Gibson said.
“One of the things that we notice in our sub-divisions is that we don’t put the kind of emphasis into details as I see being planned here in the Charlotteville community. As a spin-off from that, we have committed ourselves to going into more details as far as landscaping and amenities in some areas.” ﾠ
Minister Gibson said he was also impressed that the development called for a Club House, which would create a sense of a closely-knitted community. He also noted that while bigger lots are created in the Government subdivisions, Charlotteville is maximising the use of the land.
“I am sure this would go a long way in helping to create the community for the young professionals, who did not have an opportunity to buy in the other subdivisions as land is very, very tight particularly here in New Providence,” Minister Gibson said.
Mr. Bronstein said he is excited about Charlotteville and the response from prospective homeowners.
“We’ve really tried to take a lot of what we’ve learnt over last 10- 11 years and create a good solid development that is really strictly geared to the Bahamian purchaser,” he said.
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