The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The receiver for an Abaco-based resort/marina development, recently appraised at $50 million, yesterday said he was “at the beginning of a long road” in trying to recover debts owed to a $27 billion US bank and other creditors.

Paul ‘Andy’ Gomez, managing partner of Grant Thornton (Bahamas), told Tribune Business he was ultimately looking at selling the 203-acre Orchid Bay Marina and Resort, located on Great Guana Cay, to a new owner.

Disclosing that he would “investigate” all property transactions that had taken place over the past five years, Mr Gomez confirmed he had been appointed by a Supreme Court Order obtained by Orchid Bay’s main creditor.

This is Synovus, a Georgia-based financial institution with $27 billion in assets, which also operates in Alabama, South Carolina, Florida and Tennessee.

It is the main lender/creditor of businessman William B. Johnson, a well-known American entrepreneur who was once the owner of the Ritz-Carlton hotel chain.

Mr Gomez is now the receiver/manager for the William B. Johnson Investment Company and William B. Johnson entities, which own the outstanding and issued shares in Guana Cay Abaco Development Company. This is the entity that trades as Orchid Bay Marina and Resort.

“Our goal is to conserve the value of the property, which was recently appraised at $50 million,” Mr Gomez told Tribune Business.

“We hope to have our client’s [Synovus] claim satisfied and pay off all the other legitimate creditors, and return the remaining funds to Mr Johnson’s estate.”

Apart from a 60-slip mega yacht marina, Orchid Bay also features a marina restaurant and bar, and several “upscale”private home sites. Mr Gomez estimated some of these were worth over $1 million.

Orchid Bay was looking at expansion almost three years ago, with talk of a 300-slip marina and more private lots. Ministers in the then-Ingraham administration, including Deputy Prime Minister Brent Symonette and environment minister, Earl Deveaux, conducted a visit to the project site in October 2010.

However, Tribune Business understands that Mr Johnson since then has become ill, and run into financial difficulties, owning numerous creditors significant sums.

He is thought to have owned Orchid Bay for some 20 years, and invested considerable sums in installing all the necessary infrastructure.

Estimating that between 10-20 persons were employed at Orchid Bay’s marina and restaurant/bar facilities, Mr Gomez told Tribune Business that about 10 acres had been earmarked for a future hotel/resort development.

And a “significant area” had been allocated of a shopping and commercial centre.

“There are plans for dredging for canal lots, so residents can pull up in their yacht, sailing in from Nassau or south Florida, to Orchid Bay and be on their property,” Mr Gomez added.

But, noting that much work lay ahead of him and his attorney, Jacy Whittaker of the Freeport-based law firm, ParrisWhittaker, Mr Gomez told Tribune Business: “There are many issues on the table, and this is the beginning of a long road.

“We’re going to investigate all property transactions in the last five years to make sure they were properly authorised.

“My aim is to ensure my client’s [Synovus] claim is perfected, get their money back to my client, assess the true value of the property and then potentially sell it.”

Research by Tribune Business revealed that one of Mr Johnson’s companies had been placed in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US in September 2011.

His hotel investments started with a Holiday Inn in Tampa in 1969, and he was an investor in Host Hotels - a company that owns Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, Westin, Sheraton, St Regis, The Luxury Collection, Hyatt, Fairmont, Four Seasons and Hilton hotels across the US.

He was also an investor in numerous restaurant chains and commercial property developments in the US.