The Tribune

• Product upgrade for 20k daily cruise visitors urgent

• DPM: Gov’t will push ahead if private sector doesn’t

• Crime concerns blamed for lack of property investing

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Nassau Cruise Port’s top executive yesterday warned “time is not on our side” to ensure Bay Street’s tourism product meets the expectations of 20,000-plus cruise ship passengers and other visitors frequenting the area daily.

Michael Maura, speaking after downtown Nassau stakeholders met with the deputy prime minister to address the city’s woes, told Tribune Business “we need to get working on Bay Street right now” to ensure that visitors do not come away with bad impressions that they pass on to friends and relatives.

With the cruise port’s $300m transformation designed to “complement” and kick-start downtown Nassau’s revitalisation, he said he had delivered the message that “we don’t have time to wait for everything to be perfect” given that Prince George’s upgrade to a six-berth port capable of handling the world’s largest cruise ships is due to be completed by early 2023.

Chester Cooper, also minister of tourism, investments and aviation, told Bay Street property owners and merchants that while the Government wished to partner with them in reviving the city of Nassau it is not prepared to wait indefinitely for progress to be made.

Should upgrades not proceed at the pace desired by the Davis administration, those present said he warned that the Government would move to achieve its downtown Nassau objectives without waiting for the private sector to come on board and catch up.

Charles Klonaris, the Downtown Nassau Partnership’s (DNP) co-chair, who also attended the meeting, said he was “encouraged” by the Davis administration’s commitment to “laying a foundation” for the city’s revival that will extend beyond its five-year term in office.

Pointing to the cruise port project, as well as the new $300m US embassy, proposed $100m Central Bank headquarters, and new Cabinet Office and Supreme Court buildings, he added that “the groundwork, the foundation is being set” and it was now up to all involved - government and private sector - to “come together” and develop downtown Nassau into a thriving waterfront city attractive to tourists and Bahamians alike.

Asserting that “the tide is rising”, Mr Klonaris said of derelict and dilapidated property owners, especially those located east of East Street: “If they are entrepreneurs and developers, this is the time to do it.” And Mr Maura warned that the clock is rapidly running out on the window available to make critical upgrades before Prince George Wharf’s enhancement is finished.

“Nassau Cruise Port will be materially complete with a lot of our construction a year from now,” he told Tribune Business. “There will be a big fanfare when we are fully open, attracting not just thousands of cruise passengers but visitors from Atlantis and Baha Mar to come downtown.

“We need to get working on Bay Street right now. We don’t want these people walking and migrating on to Bay Street and coming back with a story of: ‘What’s happening here? Why is this not nice? Why is this not working?’ The cruise port has always been about complementing downtown Nassau, not replacing it.

“We need to get working right now. Time is not on our side. It’s very expensive to accomplish perfection. We need to get something done now because time is not on our side. There’s a lot of work to be done. We need attention now. We need action now.”

Mr Maura said Mr Cooper and the Davis administration did not want downtown Nassau’s revival to become “a prolonged exercise”, and viewed it as an “urgent, immediate” priority to effect some improvements in the near-term.

“One of the headlines he had in his presentation is that downtown should be memorable and and authentic. That’s what he began with,” the Nassau Cruise Port chief said of the deputy prime minister. “He said the Government would support opportunities for investment in the downtown area through the Small Business Development Centre and Tourism Development Corporation.

“He spoke to the Government’s desire for partnership with the downtown community and individual stakeholder groups. However, he emphasised that progress would trump partnership. What he meant there, and said a couple of times, is that the Government wants to establish mutually beneficial partnerships with downtown stakeholders but progress must be the test.

“If progress is not being made, the Government would do what it needs to do to achieve the necessary results it desires. He indicated that the Government has many tools in its arsenal, but the first tool pulled out of the bag will be partnership. Yet there are other means to encourage the required behaviour.”

Downtown Nassau’s revival has been much talked about for decades, and certainly since the 21st century’s start. While there have been incremental improvements such as refurbished sidewalks, pedestrianised streets, Pompey Square, the harbourfront boardwalk and garbage collection, progress to-date has been painfully slow given the size of the task at hand.

Moving the shipping companies to Arawak Cay in 2011-2012, besides getting heavy vehicles out of downtown Nassau, was also supposed to free-up prime waterfront property for fresh investment and redevelopment. The Minnis administration extended the City of Nassau Revitalisation Act, and its package of tax breaks and incentives designed to spur such projects, through to 2026 during last year’s Budget.

However, these initiatives have largely failed to have the desired effects. Much of downtown Nassau, and especially the ‘twilight’ area east of East Street, has continued to steadily deteriorate to the point where a significant portion of the city is run down, derelict and a far cry from the tourist destination it markets itself as. Given the many property and business owners involved, often with competing interests and agendas, it has been difficult to get all on the same page.

Mr Maura said Mr Cooper yesterday “clearly implied” that derelict property owners would ultimately face “consequences”, either having to “move swiftly to improve the state of their properties or the Government will move to ensure the state of their properties improves”.

He added that Senator Ryan Pinder, the attorney general, who was also present at the meeting “indicated much work had gone into a review of the laws” relating to property maintenance, vagrancy and policing in the downtown Nassau area and that this would be completed by year-end 2022.

Property owners have also long complained that the city’s zoning restrictions need to be adjusted to allow development to go beyond five stories high - something that is seen as critical for high-rise condos and making downtown a ‘living city’ with young and professional Bahamians residing in the area, thus helping it to sustain active nightlife rather than closing down in the early evening. The absence of sufficient parking is yet another barrier to revival.

“A number of people shared their concerns that the criminal element downtown has directly impacted their willingness to improve their property,” Mr Maura told Tribune Business, “and would that increase in property value yield any return if crime or the criminal element are still there.

“I shared that many people in the room had likely spoken to police officers when they observe behaviour that is not in keeping with what we want to see downtown. The police tell you that they pick-up the individual involved, go before the court. The court issues the fine prescribed within the law, and the person pays a meaningless fine or fee and shows back up the next day. There’s this revolving door. It’s like kicking the can down the road for 24-48 hours.”

Mr Klonaris, pointing out that downtown Nassau’s revival is a long-term process that could play out over decades, rather than a sprint, said Mr Cooper and the Davis administration appeared to recognise this based on what happened at the meeting.

“You’re going to have sometimes 20,000 tourists disembarking, and the stakeholders have to take advantage of that,” he told Tribune Business. “The new port is going to be attractive, and hopefully the retailers upgrade and clean-up their properties and decide what to do to attract the tourists.

“The groundwork, the foundation is being set and it’s now up to the stakeholders. All of that has to come together.... If they are entrepreneurs and developers, this is the time to do it. The tide is rising, so it’s time everyone took advantage of it.”