A 100 percent Bahamian investment consortium has made an offer to the Hotel Corporation of The Bahamas to purchase the beleaguered government-owned Radisson Cable Beach Resort, with the intention of investing in excess of $120 million.
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\nThe group, which proposes to renovate the resort to a four-star hotel, includes a number of \uff93prominent Bahamians\uff92, who remain anonymous. \uffa0
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\nAccording to a weekend press statement, the Myers Group, which has managed the hotel over the past 12 years, and the Hotel Industry Pensions Funds are also part of the consortium.
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\nPrime Minister Perry Christie indicated during his budget communication that the government plans to obtain a net $10 million for the Treasury from the sale of the property.
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\nThe consortium proposes that the total investment be split into three phases: \uffa0Phase I is budgeted at $70 million; phase II at $45 million; and phase III at over $5 million.
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\nThe group stated that the capital funds necessary to purchase the 700-room Radisson Resort and its properties – including the golf course and a parcel of adjacent land – are in place. \uffa0It said it is only awaiting the Hotel Corporation\uffb4s agreement for the purchase in order for the project to start. \uffa0\uffa0
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\n\uff93The major investment\uff85is a commitment to keeping with the government\uffb4s declared desire for further Bahamian investment in the tourism industry. \uffa0It will also have the considerable advantage of keeping this national asset under Bahamian ownership and control,\uff92 the group said in the statement.
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\nOnce agreed to by the government, the newly-refurbished and upgraded property would continue to be managed by The Myers Group, which is expected to secure a major international hotel brand flag. \uffa0
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\n\uff93This coupled with upscale four-star guest facilities, will enable the resort to improve room rates as well as attract more group and convention business, which will provide solid year-round occupancy levels and increased revenues, thereby stabilizing employment levels at the property,\uff92 the release said.
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\nThe consortium feels that The Myers Group\uffb4s intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the resort removes the necessity for a lengthy take-over process and reduces the time required for the planning of the new facility. \uffa0
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\nMost of the phase I renovation of the 700 guest rooms is scheduled for completion by the end of the first quarter of 2005. \uffa0It would include, but not be limited to, a totally new front entrance, a new renovated Golf Club House, renovation of all restaurants, public areas and meeting rooms, a name-brand spa facility and the installation of the latest wireless internet capability.
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\nThe proposal seeks to have phase II of the project begin in early 2006, which will comprise the development of 160 two-bedroom time-share units, each being 1,200-square feet in size.
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\nThis stage of the development would reportedly be carried out in conjunction with a major international time-share developer. \uffa0
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\nPhase III would provide for the creation of an additional nine holes of golf and a putting course.
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\nPresident of the Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union Pat Bain told the Journal Sunday he throws his support behind the consortium, as long as it has the financial backing to purchase the resort. \uffa0
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\n\uff93I don\uffb4t see why there should be any preference over a Bahamian consortium who may have the same capabilities as a foreign investor and therefore our union would be totally in support of this,\uff92 Mr. Bain said.
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\n\uff93For many years people have been advocating for Bahamians to own part of the tourism industry. \uffa0This is an opportunity now for this to happen.”
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\nThe union executive urged the government to give the consortium \uff93favourable consideration.\uff92
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\n\uff93We say, \uff91let\uffb4s go with the Bahamian consortium or investor who has the ability to raise the funds to make the venture a go,\uffb4\uff92 Mr. Bain said.
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\nHe added that he has no problem with the Myers Group still being intimately involved in Radisson, which employs 1,100 persons.
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\n\uff93The question is, are we looking for an efficient, profitable operation that would enhance our tourism product; provide employment for Bahamians at large; remove the glass ceiling so that we can now produce Bahamian general managers\uff85and at the same time keep revenue in this country that could do further things?\uff92 he questioned. \uff93Let\uffb4s get on with it.\uff92
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\nThe consortium said it considers the offer and investment to be realistic.
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\nThe group said with the funds already secured, the project could begin as early as this year, once an agreement is settled at an early date.<\/p>\n
By Hadassah Hall, Bahama Journal<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Unfortunately, the group includes a couple of ‘shady’ Bahamians and is headed by George Myers, the lackluster manager who has run the property into the ground over the past ten years.<\/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-245446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245446","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=245446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245446\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}