The Tribune

By Fay Simmons

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

Construction of Royal Caribbean’s $100m Paradise Island beach club should begin this week, it was revealed yesterday, with 95 percent of site preparation and demolition now complete.

Philip Simon, who is president and general manager for both the Royal Beach Club project and Royal Caribbean International Bahamas, said the cruise line has secured the necessary approvals for civil and infrastructure work to begin.

Speaking at a Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employer’s Confederation (BCCEC) event, he said on-site construction should begin this week with the project going into full development mode by the middle of next month.

“Construction, literally, we are hoping to begin this week. We received permits to get started on the civil works, the infrastructure works,” added Mr Simon.

“So, if not tomorrow, certainly this week we have plans to begin the literal construction phase of the development. It is going to be a push to meet our deadline for the end of 2025. The goal is within the 2025 fourth quarter we are opening the doors of the Royal Beach Club.

“We are pretty much complete with the site prep and demolition, 95-plus percent completed with that. We hope to begin construction shortly. We have our permits in hand for the civil works and infrastructure, so we want to get started on that, and then hopefully by the middle of next month we are into full construction mode of the Beach Club.”

Mr Simon said the site preparation and demolition has been challenging, and was stalled at 95 percent for the past weeks as contractors were constantly discovering new underground septic tanks. “You had five or six homes that were there for decades that had been abandoned,” he explained.

“You had, literally, structures falling into the harbour and it’s been quite a task moving through the demolition phase; just removing and clearing the debris and, of course, delicately - quite delicately - working that topography.

“Even yesterday, we found another septic tank. So, we’ve been stuck on 95 percent complete for the last couple of weeks, because every time we try to add to completion we find something new. We’ve discovered almost a dozen tanks that were underneath the ground whether they were fuel, water or septic. So, it’s been a real challenging time really articulating this particular process.”

Mr Simon said over 70 percent of the plants found on Royal Caribbean’s 17-acre project site, at the western end of Paradise Island near Colonial Beach, were invasive species that had to be removed while about 1,200 plants were native and had to be relocated.

For the native species, Royal Caribbean’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) requires three native plants to be planted to replace each one that is removed. “For us, 70-plus percent of this property had invasives,” said Mr Simon.

“There’s a policy that says if it’s invasive, it’s got to be removed. We have about 1,200 or so native and horticultural species that need to be relocated to a nursery. The policy with the DEPP (Department of Environmental Planning and Protection) is one to one for native species. You remove one, you gotta put one back.

“Under our particular EIA agreement, it’s three-to-one for the protected trees. Normally it’s one-to-one or two-to-one. For us, it’s three to one. And that’s fine, because we have every intention of making this site look and feel as Bahamian as possible.”

Mr Simon said in addition to the Bahamian companies that have already been contracted for architectural services, environmental consultation, civil engineering and security, Royal Caribbean is looking to appoint a director of finance and a general manager for the Royal Beach Club within the next two months.

“We will be looking for our general manager for the Royal Beach Club,” he said. “We’ll be looking for the director of finance, and we hope to have these positions filled over the next two months. The director of finance is a major and critical position.

“As we move towards the equity raise stage of this project, we hope to do that in the first quarter of next year. Just a couple of more ‘i’s’ to dot and ‘t’s’ to cross as it relates to the structure of that. We have identified the fund manager to conduct that for us.”