Is that a glimmering light at the end of the 4Seasons tunnel I see?

Clearly, if the PM and the Minister of Finance are hiding from you, and you are being schmoozed by the St. Lucy MP (no offense intended), we already know where this deal is going - if it goes anywhere at all.  All debts, including all political debts, must be paid before this project ever sees the light of day again.  Click here to read about it all. 

Pared Down Plans For Royal Westmoreland's Expansion Inching Forward ...Maybe?

"Efforts are on to salvage a $150 million luxury golf, residential and hotel project which has been waiting in the wings for more than three years.

Barbados TODAY has learnt that high-level talks involving senior members of the Freundel Stuart Administration and Royal Westmoreland are underway in an attempt to get that St. James luxury development’s expansion onto the nearby Lancaster Plantation property it owns underway.

Discussions have already been held with Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler, and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Senator Darcy Boyce is chairing a working group on the matter.

The major sticking point continues to be the granting of approval for the construction of a $4.4 million reservoir Royal Westmoreland officials said was necessary for the 18 hole championship golf course, hotel and other residences.

These developments were confirmed today by the Royal Westmoreland Construction Director, Ian Putley, who was cautiously optimistic about the likelihood a positive outcome within the coming months.

“We are currently in discussion with a working group led by Senator Darcy Boyce who is trying to get the confirmation of compliance with Town & Country Development Planning conditions letter,” the official told Barbados TODAY..."

Read more: Barbados Today

More Bad Press For The West Coast

"Something disturbing is happening on Barbados – the Caribbean experience is being drowned in a tsunami of greed and gravel. With tax dodgers, celebrities, footballers and bloated businessmen all flocking to the island prices have soared. Even my rich friend Lady Carol Parsons complains.

Once I used to think to myself “oh just relax and put it on the plastic, after all you are on holiday”. I do mean literally once. That occasion was when a meal for 5 at the Lonestar came to £650 and I was paying. After that I was more careful. If someone said that Villa Rosa or Chin Chin were the latest places to eat, I would be sure to avoid them.

The turning point came about 10 years ago when property started to boom, and especially on the West Coast around Holetown, originally developed by the likes of the Guinness and Cunard families. This was The Place To Be. Now it is jam packed with mansions from end to end. The latest is One Sandy Lane, a sort of beachside British Museum opposite the famous Sandy Lane golf course and Barbados’s answer to One Hyde Park, that Qatari monstrosity near Harrods in London..."

Read more: Barbados: Don’t Bother, Frankly

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Polo Paradise

"On my first day at the Apes Hill Polo Villas I was awakened from an afternoon nap convinced that I was in the middle of an earthquake. The floor and walls seemed to be vibrating. Through the open doors of my veranda, beyond a wall of fuchsia bougainvillea, I could hear the sound of shouting in the distance. As I got my bearings, I realized that the voices were calling out polo plays in a mixture of Spanish and English and that the ground was shaking because there were eight horses running at a full gallop, only yards from where I had been sleeping in the balmy breeze  ..."

Read more: Polo Paradise - Ralph Lauren Magazine

'via Blog this'

Wayne Rooney/Royal Westmoreland Hit By Storm

"I think you may be missing the point a little. I am sure those visitors totally accepted that the hurricane was an act of God. But I was also staying on the Royal Wesmoreland at that time and the service we received from the Royal Westmoreland management was certainly not first class! They displayed a total lack of care to their guests - the arrogance was appalling! For three days following the storm they did not even offer candles or water! The hotels on the West Coast seemed to be doing a fine job so I am not sure what was happening at the Royal Westmoreland. They obviously are not interested in fee-paying guests. We are not rich - just hard working people who had saved hard to afford a holiday..."

Click here to continue reading...

Black Bess Saga Revisited

"One of the largest developments planned for Barbados is
in limbo and searching for a buyer.


An alliance of real estate companies in Barbados, the
United Kingdom and British Virgin Islands (BVI) has for the
past several months been hunting someone with deep enough
pockets to purchase the property earmarked for a more than
half billion dollar golf and residential resort at Black Bess, St.
Peter, but has been stalled for over a year now, with nothing
beyond massive excavation work having taken place.


Local company, Realtors Limited, its BVI counterpart
Smith Gore and the latter’s London affiliate SG Commercial
LLP, are trying to sell the 247 acre site, which has planning
permission for a hotel and spa complex with up to 100
rooms, an 18-hole golf course and up to 200 residential units.


“The site originally known as Black Bess Plantation, has a
superb hilltop location with magnificent views of the famous
platinum coast and Caribbean Sea. Detailed negotiations
have taken place with a world-renowned luxury hotel
operator to operate the hotel and villas on completion of the
development,” Realtors says in its sales pitch.


“The Black Bess project has been assembled with the
intention of developing a high-end resort community to equal
the very best Barbados and the wider Caribbean has to offer.
The site lends itself extremely well to such a development
and the location and setting are superb. A sale of the site
with the benefit of the planning permission ... is now being
sought”.


The project in question, which was to have been
undertaken by local company Bacassa Developments
(Barbados) Limited in partnership with Asian hotel chain
Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts, officially started in 2007, but
did not get past its first phase after finances became an issue,
sources told Barbados TODAY.


“All that basically took place was that the site was
excavated, things like roads laid out, a road bridge
constructed, and the layout for a lake to be used to provide
water to the golf course completed. Funds then became an
issue with the onset of the international financial meltdown
and economic recession,” the official noted.


Investigations revealed that a company called Caribbean
Resort Assets Fund (CRAF) registered in London, England,
working with others, including joint venture partner COPRIM
Inc of Montreal, Canada, which was expected to be in charge
of project development and management, had worked out a
deal where Banyan would have been guaranteed the majority
of earnings from rentals, money which would then be used
for certain tasks.


“The projected return is a minimum of six per cent on
investment in the form of rental income from the villas.
The Banyan Tree will underwrite this rental guarantee for a
minimum of five years from practical completion,” an outline
of the plan stated.


“The Banyan Tree Hotel and Resorts will retain 66.6 per
cent of the gross receipts from lettings to pay for all the
outgoings, including maintenance, and provide it with a fee
for so doing, paying the joint venture partner the remaining
one third, which is anticipated to equate six per cent of the
value of the villas. There is a guaranteed minimum income
equivalent to four per cent of the value.”


It was also intended that CRAF would have provided
investors with “a total return equivalent to 15.2
per annum over the anticipated seven year life of
the fund ... net of all costs and fees”.


“Those investors admitted to the partnership
or buying units at the first close will be given
an additional five per cent share of the final
profit after the repayment of all loans and capital
commitments,” the plan added.


Investigations found that CRAF was
incorporated in 2007, the same year the Black
Bess project was officially launched by then
Minister of Tourism Noel Lynch, but was unable
to raise the funds needed to build the Barbados
resort, which was projected to cost $600 million.
This venture is one of several high-profile ones
in Barbados that have either failed to start or have
been forced to stop mainly because of finance
issues. Also in this category was the Four Seasons
Project, also on the West Coast.


While efforts have been ongoing to get Four
Seasons restarted under the guidance of Barbadian
financing expert Professor Avinash Persaud, a
real estate industry source said the reality was
investors and financiers alike were not willing to
commit until they actually saw activity at the Four
Seasons, Black Rock, St. Michael site.


“Everyone must face that fact. Four Seasons
is the game changer for many of these projects and until
all of the talk ceases and work actually starts on the site in
Black Rock, quite frankly many others are not going to start
because confidence in the market is down and financiers are
still hesitant to pump millions and millions of dollars into
these ventures that have no guarantee of success,” the official
noted."

Click here for original Barbados Today article.

They Built Their Fancy Golf & Country Club Under A Rubbish Dump - Now Sandy Lane Is Complaining About The Smell. Well, Duh!

“Just below the communities of Arch Hall
and Bennetts in St. Thomas, the Sandy Lane
Country Club today added its voice to the
concerns about the recent worsening of the stench from
the Mangrove Pond Landfill.

Golf and country club manager, Elvis Medford told
Barbados TODAY this afternoon that they too have
been concerned by what they believe is an intensification of
the stench of garbage from the dump.

“Basically what we find is that there are some days when
the smell from the dump is a lot stronger, like for example
when there is a heavy turn over of garbage at the landfill.
We are directly down wind and being directly down wind
the smell is very strong. We have a restaurant and it can be
very annoying at time when it is full of people.”

The manager explained that they have had to employ
their people skills in explaining to their customers, some
of whom are very wealthy visitors, about the smells they
encounter while lunching there.

“It is never easy having to explain the smell from day
to day. What we try to do is, see what we can do to
explain the smell to them. So we try to use more pleasant
fragrances in cleaning and mopping some areas. We put
some sweet smelling stuff in the actual water so it takes
away some of the foul odor that comes from the dump,”
said Medford, adding that they have also seen an increase in
flies at the restaurant as well.

He noted though that he could not lay the blame for the
flies totally at the foot of the dump, but that they at the
club have had to look at their own practices and to boost
what they were doing in terms of keeping their surfaces
clean.

“We can’t blame it all on the landfill because some of it
is also pretty much your own hygiene ... if you have dirty
surfaces they will tend to attract more flies. So we have to
be on top of that, and naturally in the rainy time you see
much more flies around. As a result we have to clean much
more often.”

Similar to the residents, the manager said Sandy Lane’s
management has made its position and challenges with
regard to the smell known to the managers of the dump,
the Sanitation Service Authority (SSA). He acknowledged
that the residents in neighbouring communities would feel
the effects of the dump, which he believes is getting bigger.

“It is not just a problem for us but the Arch Hall
community and in some cases the smell itself is experienced
much further down wind and when you look at it, the
landfill has actually grown taller.

“It is the first time in my experience that I have seen
such. It is just getting taller and taller, so obviously it is
getting bigger. Then sometimes you get the odd fires and
that is not a good experience either. So there is heavy
smoke and sometimes it can burn for days. So I am sure
that there are residents, some of whom are asthmatics or
whatever the case may be, who would have concerns that
they would have expressed and made known.”

Among the other challenges, he said, was that the dump
trucks which use the Bennetts Road as a route to the
landfill, sometimes left rubbish behind in the roads, as some
of them travel at terrific speeds. He said they have had to
have the grounds staff clearing the road of refuse that fell
from some of the trucks. According to Medford, it was in
their interest not to leave it on the road, which runs
between the golf course and is the direct route to the
country club where customers come to eat.

Additionally, he said, another growing concern was that
of seepage and “what happens when it goes into the water
course [as] that too could have some bearing on our product.””

Source: Barbados Today 080910 p.30

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Take a first look at Wayne Rooney’s £5m Barbados home

Click here to take a first look at Wayne Rooney’s £5m Barbados home

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Bleak Christmas On West Coast

Simon Cowell is here, and so is Roman Abramovich and many other celebrities but their star power is dimmed but the darkness of the Global Economic Recession still hanging over the West Coast and indeed the rest of Barbados.  Government tried to lift spirits yesterday by issuing a vague statement about the restart of the Four Seasons project, but it has been whistling that same tune in the dark for the last eleven months.  The brief bulletin  this time said:

"Work on the stalled Four Seasons development at Black Rock, could be resumed early in the New Year.  CBC understands that several parties to a plan to re-start the multi-million-dollar tourism project are likely to sign off on the deal before the end of this year.  If this happens, our sources say work is likely to restart in the first quarter of 2010.  Over 700 workers were sent home in February 2009 after the project ran into finical difficulty.  Since then, a group led by Barbadian Professor Avinash Persaud has been trying to raise financing so that the project could resume."  CBC TV News

It is doubtful whether Four Seasons will continue to associate its flag with this project for very much longer.  As an asset it may now be even more toxic and hazardous than the gas tanks under which it sits in Black Rock.

Another near West Coast project in similar 5-star luxury brand jeopardy is Banyan Tree golf and villa project at Black Bess (Black Rock, Black Bess, hmmm...).  The company behind this project has long since sold its crown jewel when it got rid of the beachfront property on Mullins Beach it had earmarked for the beach club for the "uber-cool."  Now rumor has it that Batalleys Mews - the 30-condo project  ("townhouses") this company constructed just off Mullins is now in receivership.  An accounting firm is now running the show there.  This can only be bad news for Black Bess.  Meanwhile, into this bleak financial climate, St. Peter's Bay (only a stone's throw away from Battaleys Mews) is preparing to launch 60 more condos - not that they weren't advertising them for sale for at least the last five years.  

Apes Hill Adds Nine More Holes

Prime Minister David Thompson officially opened the new 18-hole golf course at Apes Hill yesterday.  Nine holes were opened this time last year so this opening represents the opening of the remaining nine holes completed this year.  The clubhouse is yet to be built but we are told a temporary one will soon be in place.  From some of the comments made yesterday it is now clear that the residential component of the development never reached anywhere near to rosy picture painted by the developers even before the current recession.  That fact has not stopped the developers from launching a new round hubris and hyperbole trying to sell the property.  They are already calling the course "one of the best in the world."   Don't laugh, at least it has come a long way from a COW pasture. 

Links:
Barbados Advocate 12/03/09 Page 1, Page 4, Page 5

Construction On Banyan Tree/Black Bess Golf & Villa Project Causing Local Headache

"CONSTRUCTION ON THE SITE of the $600 million Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts Ltd at Black Bess, St Peter, has taken a toll on 82-year-old Gellispie Springer.
Springer, who lives below the site at Upper Rock Dundo, St James, said her life has been disrupted by falling boulders and mould, loud noises from bulldozers and now a mass of water.
Whenever it rains, water gushes down the cliff above her and floods around her house and the road.
"If you see how the water rush down from there and flood my whole yard; I had to say Lord have mercy!" the elderly woman cried as she pointed to the cliff which is about 50 to 60 feet high..."

Click here for entire NationNews.com article.

Who knew that this project was restarted? Last we heard this project was shuttered and/or abandoned because of the recession. Be that as it may, the headache it is causing this old lady is another episode in a long string of problems construction on luxury tourism developments on or near the west coast have caused for locals and the environment. Some people in the area still blame a massive flood and rushing water which swept through the village of Weston, St. James several years ago washing one chattel house out to sea and drowning its occupant in the process, on construction related issues at the Royal Westmoreland golf and villa project. There has been no end of headaches for locals with the Apes Hill/Waterhall project involving everything from dry water taps to pushing people off lands. And, of course, the nightmare created in Road View/Mullins by the St. Peter's Bay condo project has been well documented on the Mullins Bay Blog. In all of these and other cases Government has stood aside with its arms folded and mouth shut - it too a victim and sometimes facilitator of the greed that currently grips Barbados by the throat.

Apes Hill Grinds To A Halt

 

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.

 

    

What Recession – Not Royal Westmoreland

“WHEN BRITISH BILLIONAIRE John Morphet bought the exclusive Royal Westmoreland Resort five years ago for £60 million he had huge plans for it as well as for the island.
To date, by dint of hard work and determination, he has taken the resort from an occupancy level of 30 per cent for its rental villas to over 90 per cent.
It has also commanded a very high repeat customer rate with more than 50 per cent of clients also buying holiday homes there.
During an interview with the SUNDAY SUN last week at his home, also located at the exclusive St James resort, and overlooking his vast investment, it was clear why he had fallen in love with the island while on vacation - and hence the purchase of Royal Westmoreland…”

Click here and here for entire Nationnews.com article.

What A Difference A Year Makes

The rumor mill is swirling again around the cash-strapped, stalled and/or abandoned Banyan Plantation golf and villa project in Black Bess, St. Peter and it’s developer, Bacassa Developments (Barbados) Ltd. Only a year ago Bacassa was still boasting that it has secured premium beachfrontage on the prestigious Platinum/West Coast on which it was to construct a top-of-the-line beach club for the “uber-rich and uber-cool.” Well, something happened on the way to Coolville – a recession. Now the West Coast Blog has learned that Bacassa has sold the Turtle Nest property on Mullins Beach, not to Royal Westmoreland next door as originally rumored for expansion of RWM’s own beach club, but to a new duo of developers looking to build more condos. Apparently, RWM could not or would not come up with the rumored US $9M asking price.

So, it looks like Bacassa got some cash to service its debts on Battaleys Mews, Haymans and Porters but apparently not enough to do anything with their dream property - Black Bess. For that to happen the West Coast Blog has learned that Bacassa is hoping to secure massive concessions from government including bringing into the island cheap foreign (re: slave) labor to construct the luxury villas for the rich; and that they are musing (re: threatening) moving the project to St. Lucia if those concessions are not forthcoming. This week the Tourism Minister was heard making noises about Barbados needing more golf courses, and given the fact that nothing is happening at other large tourism related developments on the island, including Four Seasons, Bacassa could still get its way.

Lobby Group Calls For End To Mega-Resorts

Citing the Grenada project of the company behind Four Seasons Barbados as an example, a lobby group "attacks governments and developers that espouse [as a marketing tool] "responsible tourism" policies, covering issues such as sustainability, community participation and damage to the environment."

Click here for post on our affiliate blog, Barbados TravelAdvisor: Lobby Group Calls For End To Mega-Resorts

Royal Westmoreland's Rigid Gate Policy Enriching The Competition

They are already infamous for denying entry even to the Royal Barbados Police Force investigating a case of domestic violence on the 750-acre luxury resort, but who-knew the rigid gate policy was also benefiting other west coast resorts:

"...Lloyd-Webber's first choice was in fact Royal Westmoreland, the stunning resort where Gary Lineker, Andrew Flintoff and, most recently, Wayne Rooney, have bought.

However, when he dropped in on the sales office unannounced last summer, security guards at the gatehouse turned him away. 'If you don't have an appointment we can't let you in,' they told him.

The irate impresario could barely believe his ears and headed straight for Clearwater Bay, where the guards were a bit less fussy..."

- more -

How stupid can these people be? Couldn't someone make a phone call to someone with half a brain saying - "we have Mr. Andrew Lloyd Webber of "Cats" and "Evita" fame at the gate and he is threatening to buy a villa much, much closer to the beach at the Four Seasons on Clearwater Bay - what shall we do?" Oh, well, what does this blogger know about these things?   Perhaps John Morphet is the one singing all the way to the bank:

And as for fortune and as for fame
I never invited them in
Though it seemed to the world
They were all I desired
They are illusions
They're not the solutions
They promise to be...

Don't cry for me Argentina 

Apes Hill Lands On Golf.com

"Demand has been so relentless that in the new year Landmark will begin developing the next phase at Apes Hill, which will include a new nine holes and 200 or so half-acre lots that are expected to bring an average of at least $750,000 apiece. Barbados has long been the warm-weather destination of choice for the upper crust of England and Ireland — the Concorde used to make twice-weekly trips from London in season — and Barton says of his clientele, "Either these people don't read the newspaper, or they're so rich they never have recessions." He knows it's the latter..."

Click here for entire Golf.com article.

Apes Hill Club In Hot Water Again

We all saw this coming.  How did the Apes Hill Club miss it?  It all stems from the continuing secrecy and deliberate attempts to keep the public uninformed over the true nature and scope of the Apes Hill project in the heart of the Apes Hill, Water Hall and Orange Hill communities.   Of course, I am referring to the battle of words which erupted in the local media last weekend over the water situation at Apes Hill and surrounding areas.  I am sorry but rehashing all the wonderful things you are doing for Barbados does not cut it when you can’t flush your toilet for lack of water, but when you look through your window you see hundreds of acres of grass being artificially watered.

Ms. Roach was correct in pointing to the lack of community involvement on the part of the developers as the true cause of the bad feelings on the part of residents.  This blogger was attacked for stating just that last year by a nitpicking Apes Hill Club enthusiast.  What is so hard about Apes Hill Club sitting down with the people in the local area even at this late stage of the game to discuss what will impact the lives of residents in the area for generations to come?  Blurbs in the media from time to time mainly intended to drum up sales for the mcmansions under construction are not enough.  This blogger is not a prophet nor the son of one but there is more trouble coming down the pike when the Apes Hill Beach Club clashes with the people of Speightstown over the little beach at Goddings Bay. 

See also:
http://www.nationnews.com/editorial/302310112667893.php
http://www.nationnews.com/story/292784105381933.php
http://www.nationnews.com/editorial/301271664536898.php

Is Banyan Tree Resort At Black Bess Dead?

"It would also mean that the Banyan Tree resort at Black Bess is probably in jeopardy if not already dead. Rumors to that effect first surfaced back in the late winter/early spring of this year when there was talk about a work stoppage on the project..."

Click here for more - Mullins Bay Blog: Reading The Tea Leaves & Rumors At Mullins Beach

Beach Club For The "Uber-Rich & Uber-Cool" Coming To Mullins Beach

After many months of only hinting at it, the inland golf and villas resort now taking shape on Black Bess Plantation is now confirming its intention to tear down the Turtle Nest beachfront villa bordering the Mullins Beach Bar on the south and to construct in its place a beach club for the “uber-rich and uber-cool” residents and guests it hopes to attract.  The confirmation comes by way of the recently redesigned website of the developer behind the project - Bacassa Developments (Barbados) Ltd.    According to that website (excerpt pictured above) “Banyan Plantation,” as the Black Bess resort is now being called, will build a “dedicated [re: PRIVATE] beach club” consisting of a bar, a restaurant and a seaside pool with changing facilities at the premium beachfront location on the Platinum Coast. 

This development comes to light just as the Mullins Bay Blog revealed last week that two other beachfront properties bordering Turtle Nest are also to be demolished to make way for yet a third beach club associated with an upmarket inland resort.  Most interested people know by now about all of the concerns that have been raised both in the mainstream media and the blogsphere since Royal Westmoreland took over the beach bar at Mullins last year.  Now with two more private beach clubs going up back-to-back in the area those concerns are now compounded.  The Apes Hill Club has already secured beachfront property for its beach club less than a mile to the north, so the trend is clear - if you are not in the condo or beach clubbing business on the upper west coast, move before you are pushed.

Now it looks like not only locals to Mullins, Gibbes, Bayfield and Road View cannot live on the beach anymore, but even those who pushed their ancestors off the beach at Gibbes two generations ago to make way for the Clearwaters, Four Winds', High Trees', etc., beachfront villas of this world, they too are now in the gunsights of the latest breed of greed sweeping the area.