The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

Three groups, including Western Air’s principal and Kamalame Cay’s developer, have expressed interest in acquiring the last Hotel Corporation-owned resort, its chairman revealed yesterday.

Attorney Michael Scott told the Andros Business Outlook conference that Rex Rolle, the Bahamian airline’s founder, and Brian Hew, Kamalame Cay’s principal, were among the parties involved in talks over the Fresh Creek-based Lighthouse Yacht Club and Marina.

The Hotel Corporation is looking for “bonafide developers and not front men” its chairman asserted yesterday, noting that the corporation was eying a “renaissance” in the Fresh Creek Andros area via the sale and revival of the Lighthouse Yacht Club and Marina.

“We want to see the renaissance of the Fresh Creek area or recreate the atmosphere, environment and vision at the height of the Lighthouse Club,” Mr Scott said. “We have received a number of interested offers.

“In fact, the property was under contract prior to my chairmanship. That deal fell through, and one reason why was because the person in that case was fronting. We have to move away form that.

“One of the major interested parties is Brian Hew, who has a successful track record with Kamalane Cay, which is one of the highest-rated boutique resorts in the Caribbean. Another one of them is a group of Bahamians who have formed themselves into a company called the Mangrove Development Group, and we have had discussions with Rex Rolle, who is big in the San Andros area.”

Mr Scott said yesterday that a partnership between Messrs Hew and Rolle could be a “good marriage”, with each bringing extensive experience from their respective industries - resorts and airlines (visitor airlift) - to the table.

“That’s only in my dreams and on my wish list,” he added. “That would be for me, and probably for the Board, the best of all worlds. We want to encourage developments and developers who have the wherewithal, skill and experience to harness the untapped potential of Andros and Androsians.

“In addition to sale of Lighthouse Club we have acreage we have had surveyed and appraised, and we are going to put it up for sale at commercially sensible prices. We want to focus on people with interest and love of the island, as well as the finances, wherewithal and experience. “

Mr Scott said the Hotel Corporation would not allow land to be taken on a “wing and a prayer’”, adding: “That doesn’t do anyone any good. We want bonafide developers, not front men.”

The Hotel Corporation chairman did not identify who he was referring to with his “fronting” comment, or the purchaser involved. However, a review of Tribune Business’s files indicated he was likely referring to the bid headed by Bahamian entrepreneur, Burton Rodgers, who had teamed with a group of investors on an offer that was accepted by the Hotel Corporation prior to Mr Scott’s appointment.

Mr Rodgers could not be contacted by Tribune Business for comment yesterday, but he has successfully partnered with overseas investors before to form groups to acquire Bahamian resort assets, most notable Exuma’s iconic Peace & Plenty property.

Mr Rodgers, in a December 2018 interview on his group’s plans for the Lighthouse Club, said they planned to create the country’s “first 100 percent green resort” through a $7m investment that would expand the property and create an initial 40-50 jobs.

Pledging to restore the resort to “its old glory”, he added that the group was seeking to exploit Andros’s “eco-friendly environment” through the implementation of renewable energy sources such as solar and biomass.

Mr Rodgers said the resort’s marina and location, especially its proximity to Nassau, meant they would target the domestic - as well as international - tourism market, as he expressed a willingness to work with the Ministry of Tourism and other Andros resorts to “create synergies” and market the entire island.

A successful sale of the 20-room Lighthouse Club would seemingly mark the end of a 27-year process, begun under the first Ingraham administration in 1992, with the sales to Sandals and SuperClubs Breezes, to extricate the Government from the business of hotel ownership (the present Grand Lucayan situation excepted).

Numerous attempts to sell the Lighthouse Club, whose Fresh Creek-based amenities include a 30-slip marina, pool and tennis court on 11 acres of beachfront land, have been made before with little success.

The last Ingraham administration was trying to negotiate a sale to Illinois-based Scheck Industries when it left office in May 2012, in a bid to end financial bleeding that was costing the Hotel Corporation some $500,000 per year.

Under the proposed agreement with the then-government, land and investment incentives would have been released to Scheck in accordance with “timeframes and milestones for development”.

The company had proposed a $15m investment in the first phase, and construction and full-time jobs of 50-plus, but nothing further was heard of Scheck once the last Christie administration took office.

Tribune Business then revealed in 2014 that rival Bahamian-led bids with strong Andros connections were battling to acquire the Lighthouse Club. Prescott Smith, owner of Stafford Creek Lodge, confirmed he was heading one group, while Vanlock Fowler, owner of Nassau-based All Purpose Steel Company, confirmed he was part of another.

Again, though, no deal was closed. The property remains shuttered, with the Hurricane Matthew-related damage not repaired, resulting in the Minnis administration offering the assets on an ‘as is’ basis when it began marketing the Lighthouse Club for sale in September 2017.

Frederick McAlpine, the former Hotel Corporation chairman, told Tribune Business last year it had managed to save taxpayers some $250,000 by terminating the Lighthouse Club’s 20-plus staff and paying them due severance after the Christie administration kept them on despite the hotel being closed.