The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A $120m development at Goodman's Bay expects to hire up to 100 additional workers next year despite COVID-19 causing a three-month delay to its construction schedule.

Randy Hart, the Wynn Group's vice-president, told Tribune Business that the Residences at Goldwynn project will be completed in two phases. The residential section is being targeted for a December 2021 completion, with the hotel portion of the 160-unit development set to close three months later in March 2022.

“The main contractor is Bahamas High Rise Construction; that’s one of the Mosko Group of Companies," Mr Hart said, "and they are responsible for the super structure, in other words, putting up the basic bones of the building. The balance of the work we are self-performing through our hiring locally with our construction management team, so we have another 80 or so employees/

"By and large, the vast majority of them are Bahamians who are carrying out the balance of the work, and that would include the mechanical, electrical and plumbing, and all of the interiors with window, doors and installation - everything that goes inside of it aside from the concrete work.”

Mr Hart added that the Wynn Group expects to "ramp up significantly once the super structure is completed by the end of this year". He added: "In 2021, we will be moving into the second phase, which is going to be all of the interior and guts of the building, and we will be looking at at least another 75 or 100 employees."

Wynn Group, in materials released this week, said construction work has now reached the sixth and top floor of the Residences despite the delays caused by the CVOVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns/restrictions imposed earlier this year.

Mr Hart said this caused Wynn Group to “adjust our schedule by approximately three months” after six weeks' worth of construction time was lost. He added: “We had supply chain issues. Our windows and doors were coming from northern Italy, so we had some panic there, but they are now actually delivered to the site and are being installed.

"That’s in the rear view mirror at this point, but we certainly had some challenges that resulted in delays. More recently we have accelerated our construction, and we have received permission from the Prime Minister’s Office to work extended hours. That was about a week ago we received permission to work on Sunday’s and Saturday afternoons, so that is going to give us a little more impetus to progress on construction.

"'Time is money' is all I can say. When you have fixed overheads and construction management teams and other general conditions, the longer you extend those, that comes out of your bottom line. So any delays are costly.”

Mr Hart added that COVID-19 has posed “significant challenges" to unit sales due to the difficulties prospective international buyers currently have in accessing The Bahamas to see the property. He added: “We have had a fairly impressive number of sales in the local market, but that is obviously insufficient to sustain a project of this size.

"We are heavily dependent on the foreign, international market. What we have been able to do is get people to commit to purchasing units subject to inspections, as we have had to give them a considerable amount of time to get here.

"We are very eager to find out when the country will be re-opened for business so that our intending purchasers can come down and see the property and proceed. It’s imperative to us that the re-opening happens in a timely fashion, obviously having regard to safety, but this is a challenge most other countries are dealing with as well. I think the realisation is that we have to learn to live with COVID-19 until the vaccines are readily available.”

Mr Hart continued: “We have seen heightened interest and inquiries since COVID-19 [started], which may sound counter-intuitive, but what we have discovered is that with all of the turmoil going on, affluent people are looking for exit strategies from the country of origin.

"The Bahamas still has a good brand out there, and we are still a sanctuary jurisdiction for people looking for residency and the tax advantages of being in The Bahamas. So that is something that has continued to drive interest; in fact, even more interest now that with the spectre of higher taxes in a lot of OECD countries.

"Prospective wealth taxes and things like that are spooking a lot of wealthy people, and they are looking at alternative jurisdictions. It is not all doom and gloom; we just need to get people back here and the market will rebound in a very significant way once we are able to re-open.”