The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Schooner Bay’s new sales team has pledged to be “very aggressive” in completing a $400 million “sell-out” of the project’s remaining real estate, and are targeting three-four years to complete the 266-lot first phase .

Tribune Business can reveal the Abaco-based project, famed for its commitment to sustainable development and being at one with the environment, has hired a Miami-based realtor to take over its sales and marketing efforts.

The new structure, agreed late last year, will see Pordes Residential Sales and Marketing take charge of the real estate side, while Schooner Bay’s founder, Orjan Lindroth, and his Lindroth Development Company, will retain responsibility for all vertical construction at the 320-acre site.

Raymond Dames, Schooner Bay’s new sales director, confirmed that Pordes Residential was seeking to ramp up real estate purchases, using the project’s completed infrastructure and existing amenities as a springboard.

“The marketing effort is going to fully roll-out over the next three months,” he told Tribune Business. “I’m looking at some sales targets now. They have to be agreed with the developer, but we will be very aggressive.

“The market is turning around. We’re seeing a tremendous resurgence in spending on second home projects, of which this is one.”

Schooner Bay has 450 planned home sites, but Mr Dames said only the 266 lots that have completed geothermal feeds and electricity grid connectivity are included in the first phase.

Of those 266, Mr Dames said just under 200 remained available, some 64 having already been sold. Of those, 38 contain completed homes.

Based on an average $950,000 selling price for a combined lot/home, he estimated that the 266-lot phase one would feature $195 million worth of real estate.

“I’m trying to do it within three to four years,” he told Tribune Business, when asked how long it would take to sell-out Schooner Bay’s first phase.

“If things are that much more buoyant, we may be out of that a bit sooner, doing these other phases a lot sooner. I’m being cautiously optimistic.

“What attracted me to this is that it rings to the sensibilities that we, as communities, should be looking at - sustainability, energy conservation, recycling and organic farming. If we did that we may all be looking at a better life, and that’s what attracted me to the project.”

Mr Dames said Pordes Residential would move on a 140-lot phase two once the first 266 sites were sold, and added: “In total, it will probably be a $400 million sell-out of the remaining lots.”

Pordes Residential has a strong track record in selling luxury, high rise real estate developments in south Florida and Las Vegas. Among its recent projects have been Fontainebleu III and Nobe Bay in Miami Beach; One Bal Harbour; Trump Hollywood in Fort Lauderdale; and Veer Towers in Las Vegas.

“We’re quite aggressive as a team,” Mr Dames said of Pordes Residential. Taking Veer Towers as an example, he added: “Prior to our taking over the average sales rate was in the low teens per year.

“In the last 11 months since we took it over, 124 units have been sold. We’re quite adept at moving the product once all the tools needed for that are in place in terms of marketing, infrastructure. Pretty much everything we have sold has sold out. We have a lot of sold out projects.”

Pordes Residential’s chief executive, Mark Pordes, spent 10 years as a senior executive with Turnberry Residential, where he led its sales efforts on the Residences at Atlantis (now the Reef). Turnberry was a 50/50 joint venture partner with Kerzner International on that part of Paradise Island’s Phase III expansion before the latter bought it out.

Mr Dames confirmed he first worked with Mr Pordes on the Residences at Atlantis, and said a four-strong Pordes Residential team was on the ground at Schooner Bay to drive the sales effort.

They are being supported by two more executives based in Florida, and Mr Dames said Pordes Residential planned to add another staff member in both locations to support the Schooner Bay effort.

But, pledging that Bahamas Real Estate Association (BREA) members would not be excluded from the action, he added: “When I worked on Atlantis, I got tremendous support from the local broker community, and it’s something I look forward to doing again.

“They’re as much a part of this as the sales and marketing efforts by ourselves.”

Mr Dames said Pordes Residential signed its contract to take over Schooner Bay’s sales and marketing effort in October last year, and he himself arrived at the Abaco development on December 1.

James Malcolm, Schooner Bay’s now-former director of sales and marketing, confirmed to Tribune Business he was no longer directly employed by the development, and had stepped down from his post.

Mr Malcolm added that he was now running his own businesses from Schooner Bay, including a destination management firm, plus eco-tour and bike tour ventures.

To date, many Schooner Bay real estate purchasers have come from Nassau. While confirming that Pordes Residential would seek to ‘internationalise’ the sales drive, Mr Dames said the development had already attracted buyers from western US states, such as Texas, plus Calgary and areas of western Canada.

“The dynamics have changed,” he added. “Europe is still a very strong draw for us, as is the natural affinity through the Commonwealth of nations. We are also adding some amenities the community may have suffered from not having.”

Mr Dames said Schooner Bay was creating a Harbour Club “right in the marina”, with facilities that include a cafe, observatory, library, fitness centre and “gathering space” for residents and visiting boaters.

Also in the immediate plans are a Cabana/Beach Club extension featuring a swimming pool and spa, plus a sporting complex. The latter will include an Olympic-standard beach volleyball court, along with facilities for basketball, tennis and soccer.

“The sporting complex will go right next to the marina,” Mr Dames said, adding that construction on Schooner Bay’s new amenities was set to resume today following the Christmas holidays.

He told Tribune Business that the developers were aiming to complete “some of the simpler” amenities, such as the sporting complex, by January’s end. The economic impact from these additions, though, has yet to be determined.

Mr Dames said Pordes Residential was also seeking to “take the guesswork” out of purchasing at Schooner Bay by matching particular home types to specific lots.

“We have a number of spec homes we’re more than willing to sell,” he added, explaining that prospective buyers would be given a selection of three-four home types that could be constructed on a given lot.

This, Mr Dames said, would ensure buyers remained in compliance with Schooner Bay’s masterplan, which has restrictions on items such as house size and number of floors.

He added that Schooner Bay’s residential offerings had been “simplified considerably”, and trimmed down to six options priced between the $300,000s to $4 million: The Cottage Collection; Harbour Village Collection; Marina Home Collection; Veranda House Collection; Oceanside Collection; and Ocean Estates Collection.

Designed as a harbour town that incorporates its natural surroundings, Schooner Bay incorporates the Bahamas’ architectural and cultural history, and embraces New Urbanism principles.

Among the businesses already operating from Schooner Bay are the eight-room Blackfly Bonefishing Lodge; Lightbourne Family Farms; Schooner Bay Harbour General Store; Judy Mae’s Kitchen; Abaco Nature Tours; and The Beach Cabana Bar.

“We’re very excited by it all,” Mr Dames told Tribune Business. “One of the testaments to this fantastic development is that they didn’t put the cart before the horse. They [the developers] put their money where their mouth is, putting the infrastructure in before the lots.

“I was totally amazed at the level of thought that went into it. It is a masterplan in every sense of the word. The challenge, as with any of these projects, is to get critical mass, enough people living there, so that businesses are sustained.”