The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A South Ocean Village resident yesterday pledged he “will not rest” until the resort explains why it has seemingly barred himself and other homeowners from accessing the beach, threatening legal action if the matter is not resolved.

Pat Strachan, an ex-Bahamas Real Estate Association (BREA) president, told Tribune Business that signs posted on the still-closed South Ocean resort property effectively violated the beach access rights contained in the conveyancing documents homeowners obtained when they acquired their properties.

Slamming the “secrecy” surrounding the signs and the years-long effort to sell the resort, Mr Strachan is also seeking clarification on who owns the roads in the South Ocean Village subdivision - particularly Hotel Boulevard.

In a letter to recently-retired New Providence Development Company president, Alistair Henderson, Mr Strachan asks whether the subdivision’s roads are private or publicly-owned, and who is responsible for maintaining them.

He is especially keen to know who owns Hotel Boulevard, the main access road to the hotel, and whether all the subdivision’s roads - if privately owned - have been sold to another buyer.

And with western New Providence “growing in leaps and bounds”, Mr Strachan expressed concern that South Ocean and its surrounding subdivisions were effectively being left behind, as the resort - which has been closed for more than a decade - continues to deteriorate.

Describing the resort property as “a dump”, the ex-BREA president said its condition was negatively impacting property values for homeowners in the South Ocean Village subdivision.

Mr Strachan is not the first homeowner to express concerns about the ‘private property’ signs, which were first put up just over a month ago across the golf course entrance and at the access point to the beach.

“Several “‘No Trespassing’ signs went up this morning around the hotel property, signed by New South Ocean Development Company,” one homeowner wrote via e-mail. “Do you know what’s happening?”

Tribune Business inquiries with sources close to South Ocean’s owners, the Canadian Commercial Workers Industry Pension Plan (CCWIPP), were unable to provide an answer. They said they were unaware of the signs, and did not know why they had been posted.

The use of the name ‘New South Ocean Development Company’, is especially curious. That is the name of the buyer created by New York-based developer, Roger Stein, whose efforts to acquire and redevelop South Ocean came to grief several years ago amid an acrimonious battle with his then-financing partner, Plainfield Asset Management.

CCWIPP has been attempting to offload the 383-acre South Ocean property, located in southwestern New Providence, for the best part of a decade.

Several sources suggested the collapse of efforts to seal a deal with controversial Austrian financier, Dr Mirko Kovats, had forced CCWIPP back to “square one”.

They added that the pension fund and its advisers were effectively ‘going back to the drawing board’ and recommencing their search for a buyer from scratch.

However, Khaalis Rolle, minister of state for investments, suggested this was not consistent with the latest information he had on South Ocean’s buyer search. He did not comment further.

Mr Strachan, meanwhile, is the first South Ocean Village resident to go public with his concerns.

“There was access to the beach in our conveyances,” he told Tribune Business. “How could that access be sold? Mr concern is that the beach access has been sold, and home owners and land owners have not been told.”

In his October 6 letter to Mr Henderson, he wrote: “In 1978, I purchased my lot from the New Providence Development Company. At that time, I was assured that residents of South Ocean Village Phase I will always have access to the beach across the street where the hotel is.

“Again, a few years ago, I raised the issue with a senior executive at NP Development Company and he assured me that access would not be an issue. Obviously, ownership of the hotel has changed hands. Therefore, I beg the question: Has the access been sold also? And can it be sold?

“It is obvious that opportunities have arisen since the opening of Albany.... But having been a land owner in South Ocean Village Phase I since 1978, I have to know, as all residents of that subdivision have a right to know: Has the access been sold?

Expressing concern over the ‘private property’ signs, Mr Strachan told Tribune Business: “There’s just so much secrecy.

“The most important question that I need answered is: Who owns the Hotel Boulevard road? If they have sold the road, we don’t have access in and out of our homes.

“Hotel Boulevard provides me with access to the public road. That’s the question I need answered. I will not rest until I get these answers.”

Suggesting he was prepared to “file a lawsuit” over the issue if the need arose, Mr Strachan said of the South Ocean resort’s appearance: “It looks like a dump. It’s run down.

“It is adversely affecting the market value of our properties.”

In his letter to Mr Henderson, the ex-BREA chief wrote: “Are the roads private? Are the roads public? Have they been turned over to the Government and made public? Who is responsible for the maintenance of the infrastructure?

“ I’m concerned as to the ownership of the road, namely Hotel Boulevard. Is that a private road or a public road? If the roads are still private and belong to the homeowners, then it means that the homeowners can block off access to the hotel and prevent new owners from accessing their property.

“Was ownership of the roads also sold along with the beach access? And if so, does this mean that the new owners can prevent the homeowners from accessing their properties?”