The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribuneemdia.net

THE development of a “ultra high end” eco-friendly resort for high-profile guests is being proposed by the purchaser of Children’s Bay and William’s Cay in the Exumas, Prime Minister Perry Christie said yesterday.

He revealed that Swiss billionaire, Dona Bertarelli, one of Switzerland’s wealthiest women, had acquired the two cays in the Exumas. She will join an exclusive group of private island owners in the Exumas, including actor Tyler Perry; illusionist and magician, David Copperfield; actor Johnny Depp; country singer Tim McGraw; Liberty Media chief John Malone; and Bernard Arnault, chief executive of luxury goods outfit, LVMH.

“She is proposing the development of an ultra high-end, environmentally sensitive resort designed to attract the world’s rich and famous,” said Mr Christie during his closing remarks at the Mid-Year Budget debate yesterday.

The 167-acre Children’s Bay Cay, located just north of Great Exuma, had been on the market for $29 million. The cay possesses a new 1.4 acre marina, dredged to a depth of 16 feet.

There are three houses on the island, with two located on a hill top to form the main compound. Between the two there are five bedrooms, while the third property is a one-bedroom cottage just to the south of the marina. The 180-acre Williams Cay, also situated north of Great Exuma, was on the market for close to $22 million.

Elsewhere, Mr Christie said that at Black Point in Exuma, Plain Bay Enterprises, headed by a Bahamian, Jacob Allen Smith, was “in advanced negotiations with the Government to develop a 160-room, two storey villa type hotel, multiple family units, a marina, other resort amenities and 18-hole golf course”.

“Moving to Andros, there are plans for the Hotel Corporation of the Bahamas to enter into a venture with a group of Bahamian investors and their successful American partner for the re-development of the Andros Lighthouse Yacht Club property at Fresh Creek, and to turn it into a haven for nature lovers, anglers, families and boaters,” Mr Christie said.