The Tribune

By TANYA SMITHCARTWRIGHT

tsmith-cartwright@tribunemedia.net

THE government is being accused of ignoring all efforts made by developer Paul Wynn to take the $3.5m “La Playa” off its hands. Meanwhile the once regal building continues to deteriorate and is now an eyesore of West Bay Street.

Insight gave you the back story of “La Playa” last week – a building purchased by the Christie administration for $3.5m as a Protocol House using funding from the National Insurance Board.

Prior to being voted out of office, the Christie Administration tried to strike a deal with Mr Wynn – who is building a resort just yards away – to have him lease the building to house his resort’s high-end guests. In that deal, Mr Wynn was to give the government reasonable access to the building to host events involving its foreign dignitaries.

The Tribune spoke with Mr Wynn, president, Wynn Group, last week who told of his countless efforts to meet with the Minnis Administration to try and resolve the future of the decaying “La Playa”.

But first, he gave us his take on why he was unable to seal an agreement with the Christie administration.

“Nothing was concrete,” Mr Wynn said. “I met with the Prime Minister Christie, Sir Baltron, Shane Gibson; quite a bit of them. I physically went in there two or three times to look at it. I don’t know if high-end guests would want to come in and be next to a park. How was I to share that building with the government? So it never progressed beyond a notional conversation.

“With this (current) government, I spoke with the former Finance Minister Peter Turnquest and I thought I was going to be able to deal with Dr Minnis directly on it and then it got shot over to several other Ministers in bureaucracy, then nothing.”

Mr Wynn indicated that although he continuously tried to organise a meeting to move things forward, he felt he was being “ignored” by this government.

“We need to see if we can come to a conclusion, there,” he continued. “But to just ignore it and not deal with it and let this thing deteriorate is not good... Just package the property and sell it to a developer. Just don’t let it sit and deteriorate because it will get like Freeport.

“I’m not going to use it for commercial activity. I want to make it into something that cleans up the place. It will satisfy everyone. I mean, it gets rid of an eyesore for the government and it sets up better facilities for the park. I will fix up the park, too.”

Mr Wynn was emphatic about keeping whatever dealings he might have with the government transparent and above the table, so as not to cause a doubt in anyone’s mind. He said he is willing to negotiate with the government for “La Playa” and is confident what he has to offer cannot be matched.

“I will make a proposal, here’s the benefits to the community, to the country, to myself… I’m not going to deny it,” he said. “I just want to be able to present something to the government and instead of the government ignoring me, send something back. Let’s go back and forth on paper, one or two times, and then have a meeting at the Office of the Prime Minister.

“I would like to see a government show that it cares and to make direct contact with us, with just one minister and Prime Minister who can actually make a decision. Let it be known and let it be transparent. I don’t want to see an article in the paper that it was done in secret. I think it would be the best presentation they can ever hope for as we are doing it through a charitable foundation.”

Asked if he was hopeful that he would soon get a meeting with the government he said, “No, I am not hopeful! I’d like to be pleasantly surprised. Exceed my expectations! Dealing with the government on ‘La Playa’, I am not hopeful. I would love to exceed my expectations by the government coming back and saying ‘Let’s fix this problem’. They have got someone who is willing to put up the money; not earn any money because of it and I don’t think they will have that opportunity again.”

GoldWynn, the development by the Wynn group, is currently being built directly opposite the Office of the Prime Minister on West Bay Street. It is currently valued at some $140m.

Sadly, GoldWynn is surrounded by abandoned buildings on the West Bay strip which includes “Fairview”, a home owned by a private bank situated on the western side of the resort. Thankfully, “Fairview’s” owner is invested in the upkeep of that property – grounds and building are impeccable. There are also signs declaring it to be private property and ordering the public not to trespass there.

Next to “Fairview” is the once magnificent “La Playa” which bears no signage to ward off anyone. Then just past Goodman’s Bay is the mould-infested former Gaming Board building and just west of that building is the now abandoned Bahamas Development Bank building. All buildings are unoccupied. All buildings are unmentioned and un-actioned by The Bahamas’ government.

The Tribune asked Mr Wynn how these abandoned buildings will affect his business. His response was grim.

“It’s bad for business!” he said. “What will happen is I don’t make sales because of this and a whole lot of people have asked what is going to happen with the abandoned buildings next to the park. No one is buying a house next to a park for land value,” the developer continued. “It’s just not worth it. With ‘Fairview’, the bank doesn’t want to sell it right now. They told us they will come back to us in a couple of years.

“In any event, I would not buy both properties. I would buy one or other. It’s like a dog’s breakfast. We’re starting with ‘La Playa’ and going nowhere, then we want ‘Fairview’ and going nowhere there.

“No one really measures it, but when you go to Freeport and you see all those abandoned buildings. I had Our Lucayan on contract for close to a year. I came to the conclusion that even if they gave it to me for free I can’t make it work. I have hotels so I really know about that business.

“The Bahamas has to be a higher brand. A former Tourism Minister said, ‘In The Bahamas we can’t race to the bottom we have to keep our brand because we can’t compete at the bottom’.”

A government contact told The Tribune that perhaps Mr Wynn’s hoped-for meeting is being “delayed” because the government was left holding the bag when he walked away from the $300m deal involving Our Lucaya.

The Tribune also learned that “La Playa” is not alone in its disrepair. There are many homes in the treasury of The Bahamas that are in a state of serious disrepair. In 2019, there was a committee formed to list and make recommendations on these homes which are mostly situated in western New Providence. The committee did a full assessment of all the properties and turned over its report to Minister Brensil Rolle to present to Cabinet. Nothing has been heard about it since then.

“I know as a fact that Peter Turnquest tried relentlessly to get a meeting between Wynn and the Prime Minister, but I guess his fate with the government was already sealed because the Prime Minister would not budge,” said the government source. “The Prime Minister was not listening to him. Turnquest was being ignored just like the developer.

“The government should really treasure the few foreign developers that we have, because they have not attracted any new developers since they came to power in 2017. Let’s not talk about the Oban deal because I think the world saw what happened there.”

For the past two weeks, three requests have been made to the Office of the Prime Minister for commentary on the matter of “La Playa”, but we have received no response.

The story on “La Playa” has caused quite a stir and to that end someone anonymously gifted The Tribune with photos of the current state of its interior.

The Tribune shared the photos with a prominent architect whose thoughts differed from those of Mr Wynn’s. After assessing and itemising material and costs, he feels “La Playa” can be salvaged for under $2.5m and would be worth it because of the quality of the building and its intended purpose. Restoration, he said, requires the use of original material.

All it takes is for someone in government to cut this knot. What should be a gem on the New Providence shoreline surely can’t be allowed to fall further into ruin.