Like the old 17th century sugarcane windmill which still adorns the property, work on the billion dollar luxury residential golf and polo resort at Apes Hill has ground to a halt. In its heyday its principal developer used to boast that business was so good that he had "nothing to sell." However, he is now lamenting about the fruitlessness of his sales trips to London and that sales have "
slowed right down to a stop." The same economic storm that shuttered other tourism-related condo and villa projects up and down the west coast, including the Four Seasons at Black Rock and Banyan Tree at Black Bess, has now also reached even Apes Hill which (because of its partnership with deep-pocketed interests in the USA and Britain and its appeal to the wealthy high end) was once thought of as being immune to the vicissitudes of the real estate market.
Sandy Lane pulled out early in the rush to build more and more luxury villas on, near or overlooking the booming "Platinum Coast," but up until very recently, Sir Charles Williams (the principal developer at Apes Hill) together with Michael Pemberton of Four Seasons and John Morphet of Royal Westmoreland were all still celebrating the seemingly insatiable demand for a piece of Barbados coming from primarily the British nouveux riche and trust fund types, now all of a sudden that market has disappeared. One now has to wonder whether the plans recently announced to begin construction of a new marina near Six Mens next month isn't simply just more singing in the dark also.
