The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

DEVELOPMENT on the Family Islands can simply be like a "lake in the middle of the desert", a leading Bahamian developer yesterday telling Tribune Business that the bigger picture needed to be assessed on this issue.

Franklyn Wilson, chairman of Arawak Homes, told Tribune Business: "When one looks at development, you have two basic strategies - a tempo and a launch. For instance, when Mr Kerzner did his Ocean Estates, he did a launch. In other words, you could not buy a lot in Ocean Estates before he put all on the market. Once he put in on the market, they all sold in about two hours or something. That's a launch approach to development.

"The other approach is the tempo approach, where you do a little bit at a time. The tempo approach works when you really do not have all of the money or the deep pockets; you have to go bit by bit. That is the approach we have been talking with regards to the Family Islands."

Mr Wilson added: "Grand Bahama is one island which is different from all the rest. In that instance, the Government took a different approach. The Government said we will give you these incentives, you do those things.

"That was the foundation that gave Grand Bahama a shot. The approach we take is a question we may want to debate more going forward. Let's say you got to Mayaguana and build a 50-room resort, and hope some people come, and the next year you build a marina and hope some people, come as opposed to doing a major development where there is considerable amenities, so that when people come they are coming to a place. The tempo approach is very challenging."

Mr Wilson, head of Eleuthera Properties, the Cotton Bay resort developer, echoed sentiments expressed by Eleuthera Chamber of Commerce president, Thomas Sands, regarding the need for critical mass on the Family Islands.

He said: "If one is going to go after the high-end tourist market, people are not going to buy residences in a community where they do not see the related infrastructure. You can't just do these things in isolation. The Family Islands have been littered with developments which have started and not continued. We need to look at the total picture."

Looking at the history of the Cotton Bay project, Mr Wilson said: "Cotton Bay and Lyford Cay started at about the same time in the 1950's. When Cotton Bay started, the investor was a more widely known individual. That was Juan Trippe, founder of Pan American Airlines. He at that point was a more influential person than E P Taylor, who was the developer of Lyford Cay.

"The first wave of home owners of Cotton Bay were people who, in a global context, were very influential people. Lyford Cay has over the last 50 years been immensely more successful, even though one started out with significantly more advantages than the other."

Mr Wilson added: "The difference was Lyford Cay was on New Providence. New Providence provided all of the infrastructure. There was so much more there than in Eleuthera. Development in the Family Islands can't just be like a lake in the middle of the desert. You have to do more than that. When one looks at Family Island investment, one has to look at the big picture."