The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A key waterfront property vital to Bay Street’s revitalisation is now “under contract”, Tribune Business was told yesterday, amid expectations that its purchase will conclude “sooner rather than later”.

Larry Roberts, NAI Bahamas Realty Commercial’s chief executive, told Tribune Business that Union Wharf’s acquisition required “various approvals” before the deal could close.

He declined, though, to identify the chosen buyer for the former Pioneer Shipping home, citing a confidentiality agreement that both he and the vendor, CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank (Bahamas), had signed up to.

“It’s under contract,” Mr Roberts told Tribune Business. “All will be known when they close on it.

“It has to get the various approvals, but we have the feeling it’s going to be sooner rather than later. It’s been under contract for several months.”

Mr Roberts’ reference to approvals being needed could indicate that the preferred Union Wharf purchaser is a foreign group, possibly the Chinese, given that the new British Colonial Hilton owner has submitted a masterplan for the complete redevelopment of downtown Nassau and Bay Street to the Christie administration.

While that is unknown, Tribune Business sources yesterday confirmed that a group headed by businessman Craig Symonette was among the bids submitted to purchase Union Wharf, but their offer was said to be unsuccessful.

Other contacts suggested that the National Insurance Board (NIB) at one point was looking at Union Wharf’s potential acquisition, and adding it to its real estate portfolio. The purchase price paid by the winning bidder is understood to have been around the $12 million mark.

There have been indications that the Union Wharf deal is close to completion, though, with newspaper advertisements published last week requesting several individuals and businesses to remove equipment stored on the property.

Mr Roberts, meanwhile, said he did not know what the prospective purchaser was planning for Union Wharf, as he had not seen its proposal.

“We have to assume it’s going to have a major impact,” he told Tribune Business. “Truthfully, I have no idea what they plan to do. They’ve had no discussions with us regarding their plans.

“We really hope it’s along the lines of what we have been proposing, which will have a major effect.

“Based on the purchase price, they’re going to have to do a significant development there, so fingers crossed it’s going to have the impact we are all hoping for and need.”

Mr Roberts told Tribune Business in December had that four “serious” bids have been submitted to acquire Union Wharf.

He added, though, that much depended on the outcome of talks between the Government and private sector over what types of development would be permitted in downtown Nassau.

The central issues being discussed include the proposed Nassau harbourfront boardwalk; how high new construction in the Bay Street area will be allowed to go; and the investment incentives available to real estate owners and businesses.

Resolving all these favourably are key to redeveloping Union Wharf, which is regarded by many as the key to reviving Bay Street and downtown Nassau ‘east of East Street’.

Union Wharf, with its harbourfront boundary and central location, has long been viewed as having potential for a multi-million dollar mixed-use development, featuring a marina, boutique resort, retail and condominium features.

However, a major turn-off, and impediment, for potential buyers are the current height restrictions on construction in downtown Nassau, which limit what they can do with that property.

Mr Roberts had previously told Tribune Business it was impossible to develop a condo or hotel-related project on the Union Wharf property without going up multiple storeys.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Brent Symonette, in a previous interview with this newspaper, had urged the Government to “stop buck passing” and decide final plans for Nassau’s harbour front boardwalk.

Mr Symonette told Tribune Business that harbourfront real estate owners had been waiting several months for the Christie administration to determine the way forward.

Recalling the last meeting with the Prime Minister, Mr Symonette said the Government wanted to hire another consultant, at a cost of $150,000-$170,000, to develop a purported ‘boardwalk masterplan’.

He said that the waterfront property owners rejected this, arguing that enough studies had been performed, and this would in effect be a ‘report to go over another report’.

Mr Symonette said his family and other property owners had provided the Government with various options for the boardwalk, which is supposed to run east from the British Colonial Hilton all the way to Potter’s Cay Dock.

They were now “waiting for answers” from the Government on what is supposed to be the next major project to spur downtown Nassau’s revitalisation, following the $2 million upgrade to Pompey Square.

And Mr Symonette warned that downtown Nassau’s major property owners, his family among them, would not invest in the redevelopment of their landholdings until the Government gave them “the rules of the game”.