Garet “Tiger” Finlayson and his group are said to be at least 15 months behind in getting their 250-room hotel off the ground because the Colby-Evans estate is claiming the developers plan to build on generation property.<\/P><\/p>\n
The development will also include a 150-slip marina and a championship 18-hole golf course.<\/P><\/p>\n
The family is reportedly claiming a large portion of purported Crown Land.<\/P><\/p>\n
The Journal has learnt that the government intended to provide Mr. Finlayson the land through an arrangement that has not been disclosed.<\/P><\/p>\n
Mr. Finlayson, who was reportedly ready to move “full steam ahead” in starting the development, has now been sidelined. <\/P><\/p>\n
He has already invested substantial sums of money in preparing the project with some of those funds going to architects and planners.<\/P><\/p>\n
Mr. Finlayson was also in discussions with leading hotel groups interested in managing the property, the Journal has learnt.<\/P><\/p>\n
The family’s legal action is actually against the government, which claims that it has clear title to the land in question.<\/P><\/p>\n
Prime Minister Perry Christie announced the development at the Progressive Liberal Party’s National Convention in November, 2002, indicating at the time that it would transform the entire island of Andros.<\/P><\/p>\n
He also revealed then that businessman Al Collie was also a part of the group of investors pushing ahead with the project. But it was unclear on Thursday whether Mr. Collie is still involved in the deal.<\/P><\/p>\n
“We are especially proud of this particular project by Bahamian investors who have responded to my government’s invitation to invest directly in our number one industry,” the prime minister said.<\/P><\/p>\n
But the matter could be tied up in court for years.<\/P><\/p>\n
It’s not the kind of news local Androsians are enthused about.<\/P><\/p>\n
Keith Treco, an Andros businessman and former local government official, said Thursday that residents of North Andros are becoming restless and impatient.<\/P><\/p>\n
“They are very anxious,” Mr. Treco said. <\/P><\/p>\n
He said the development would jumpstart the island’s economy and would probably create about 200 jobs for residents.<\/P><\/p>\n
“It would be a major boost to the island,” he said. “People are trying every little thing to make a dollar here and that would give them something to do.”<\/P><\/p>\n
Mr. Treco said the development would stop a lot of the migration from the island that is taking place. Andros has a lot of young people, he said, and residents there don’t want it to be like other islands that are populated by the very young and the very old.<\/P><\/p>\n
Angie McDonald, who runs Angie’s Poop Deck in Nichol’s Town, added that most residents seem to be disappointed that the development is on hold.<\/P><\/p>\n
“People here are waiting for it because nothing’s happening here,” Ms. McDonald said.<\/P><\/p>\n
She said the jobs that Mr. Finlayson and his group would create would obviously do a world of good for Andros. <\/P><\/p>\n
Government officials, meanwhile, are hoping that the matter will soon be resolved, given increasing frustrations from Androsians.<\/P><\/p>\n
The government is hoping that developments like the one planned by Mr. Finlayson will become a reality for all Family Island communities.<\/P><\/p>\n
Prime Minister Christie has said repeatedly that his government intends for there to be at least one such project to fuel economic activity on depressed islands, thirsty for a turnaround.<\/P><\/p>\n
For now, north Androsians will have to wait a little while longer for what they hope will be the key to economic revitalization and growth in their community.<\/P><\/p>\n
Ms. McDonald said frustrations are boiling over and she believes that something must be done soon for residents in her area.<\/P><\/p>\n
“It would be a very big deal,” she said of the project.<\/P><\/p>\n
The Bahama Journal<\/B><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An Andros family has filed an action in the Supreme Court claiming ownership of the entire Morgan’s Bluff area, essentially blocking a $50 million investment planned by top Bahamian businessmen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245013\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}