The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A $11 million sell-out is being targeted for the “first waterfront development in Cable Beach for 10 years”, with yesterday’s groundbreaking timed to coincide with the high-end real estate market’s rebound.

Ryan Knowles, an agent with H. G. Christie, which has the exclusive listing for 11-unit condo complex, The Cliffs, told Tribune Business that the launch came as activity at luxury developments such as the Ocean Club Estates hit a five-year peak.

Given the increased international demand for luxury Bahamian real estate, Mr Knowles said he would be “surprised” if any units in The Cliffs would be left come January 2015.

He added that interest in the project would also likely benefit from Baha Mar’s impending opening in late 2014, expressing hope that the $2.6 billion project would do for Cable Beach what Atlantis had achieved for Paradise Island’s real estate market,

Mr Knowles said The Cliffs’ developers, Trevor Wright and Leon Blaiweiss, and their Seawish Development Company, were highly experienced in high-end real estate construction.

The duo, who were behind the Columbus Cove and Love Beach Walk developments, have constructed more than 100 luxury units on New Providence, having also built homes in communities such as Old Fort Bay.

“For us on the sales side it’s an $11 million sell-out,” Mr Knowles told Tribune Business. “The average price of a unit is about $1 million.”

He added that the developers had revised their original concept by opting for a ‘quality over quantity approach’, reducing the density and number of units on the 1.5 acre site by more than 50 per cent.

Mr Knowles said The Cliffs, which is located on the waterfront immediately west of Caprice and opposite Sandyport, was originally viewed as a 24-unit development with price points in the mid-$500,000s range.

The project was set to launch two years ago, and had even begun its marketing roll-out, only for Seawish to pull back and redesign the concept with a new plan.

H. G. Christie became involved to help with the planning, and Mr Knowles said yesterday: “The land is only so big and we didn’t want to overload it, so we changed the concept.”

The 11 three-bed, three bath units will be 2,000 square feet in size, with prices ranging from $895,000 to $1.295 million. The larger size, coupled with swimming pool and garage facilities, are intended to increase the sales price.

Mr Knowles said all marketing efforts for The Cliffs had been delayed until after today’s groundbreaking, so potential buyers and their agents/brokers could gain confidence and see the project was for real.

“We wanted to make sure everything was ready and it was going ahead,” he added. “We’ve had projects in the past that looked great, but something comes up, and you’re selling units that have no building.

“We changed the plan for the development. It’s like having your own private home on the ocean in the convenience of a condo-type setting.”

Mr Knowles said Baha Mar and the high-end Bahamian real estate market’s rebound meant The Cliffs’ launch was timely.

Apart from increasing numbers of European buyers seeking to re-locate to the Bahamas for tax purposes, interest from Canadian and US purchasers had also returned. As a result, The Cliffs is expecting most of its purchasers to be foreign, with some likely seeking a holiday home.

“We’re expecting a high level of demand. The high-end market has rebounded. Speak to anybody in high-end sales and they will tell you this year is better than last,” Mr Knowles told Tribune Business.

“To give you an example, I do quite a bit at the Ocean Club, and the last 12 months there haven been my busiest and most active for five years.”

Mr Knowles attributed the rebound to increased investor confidence over the improving world economy and surging US stock market, coupled with the need to make money “sitting on the sidelines” for several years to work.

“I think it’s going to go really quickly,” Mr Knowles said of The Cliffs. “I would be surprised if we still have units in January. We expect them all to be gone before then.

“When you think about it, there’s a limited inventory of high-end units and high-end real estate in Cable Beach. This is probably the first waterfront development in Cable Beach for the past 10 years in terms of a project actually being built. We’ve had a couple that were planned but did not take off.”

Mr Knowles expressed hope that Baha Mar would provide a further impetus to sales at The Cliffs, adding: “We saw what Atlantis did for Paradise Island, and we can expect something similar for Cable Beach with Baha Mar. We need it.”