By NEIL HARTNELL
Tribune Business Editor
nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
Downtown Nassau’s revival could be sparked by moving key government agencies there “to spur economic activity”, a well-known accountant arguing the area should not solely rely on tourists.
Craig A. ‘Tony’ Gomez, the Baker Tilly Gomez accountant and partner, told Tribune Business that moving government offices back downtown - especially to the section ‘east of East Street’ - would provide “the framework” to attract Bahamian entrepreneurs to return.
He explained that the presence of government workers, and members of the public accessing the services they provided, would provide a ready-made customer base to ensure the economic viability of Bahamian retailers and restaurants.
“We’ve just got to enhance the physical plant of the Bahamas, and generate more revenues,” Mr Gomez told Tribune Business. “It was good to hear Mr D’Aguilar [the minister of tourism] say we need to address downtown’s development. We need to address it for so many reasons.
“Downtown is seen to be the centre of your economic activity. It is where economic activity is found. Why is downtown the way it is?”
He added: “I would encourage the new government to perhaps consider moving some of its offices back to downtown to create some activity in the area. It doesn’t have to be touristic. The centre of the city is the centre of your city.
“Every country wants to have an active city centre. We’ve done the opposite.”
Mr Gomez suggested that locating government offices ‘east of East Street’, a section of downtown Nassau that has continued to deteriorate since the shipping industry relocated to Arawak Cay, would “create a customer base” that Bahamian entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized businesses can feed off.
“We have to create a downtown that creates economic, social and touristic activity,” he told Tribune Business. “Not everyone can drive to Oakes Field.
“By doing that [moving government offices back downtown], you will have an enhancement of infrastructure, buildings will take on a new look and feel, and one activity leads to another.
“We will know our money is being put to good use, and we will see other activity apart from Baha Mar. It’s that activity at the entrepreneurial level.”
Mr Gomez said there was good reason to place faith in Bahamians when it came to reviving downtown Nassau and Bay Street, arguing that locally-owned businesses had stopped Freeport’s economy tanking over the past 13 years.
“The only thing that held Grand Bahama together is the entrepreneurial activity of Bahamians,” he said. “The restaurants are Bahamian, the shops are Bahamian; all the non-Bahamian activity in these sectors has dried up in a very big way.
“Government must create the framework for reviving downtown Nassau by putting its offices back on Bay Street. They’d create the framework to put a little restaurant and bar next to the Government offices, and maybe give Bay Street a different look, smell and feel after 5pm. They’ve got to create the framework to spur economic activity.”
The Government’s present fiscal constraints may be an obstacle to any downtown relocations, but all other efforts to revive Bay Street over the past two decades have yet to produce any lasting success.
While there have been individual business successes, the city of Nassau - and especially the section ‘east of East Street’ - has continued to deteriorate, as companies close down and relocate away from downtown.
The first Christie administration engaged the master-planning firm, EDAW, to work with local architects to develop a ‘living city’ along the harbourfront that attracted young Bahamians back to live in downtown.
Little came of the initiative, and the final Ingraham administration achieved the biggest success to-date when it secured the removal of the shipping companies to the purpose-built port at Arawak Cay via the Arawak Port Development Company (APD).
But despite the existence of various tax incentives, and the continuation of the Downtown Nassau Revitalisation Act for another year, the area’s revival has remained stubbornly elusive.
The previous government talked of developing a harbourfront boardwalk that stretched from the British Colonial Hilton in the west to Potter’s Cay in the east but that, too, stalled amid complaints from downtown Nassau property owners that the Government’s failure to stipulate the ‘rules of the game’ - including height restrictions as to how tall they could build - was making it impossible to redevelop their properties.
The imminent full opening of the $4.2 billion Baha Mar resort means that downtown Nassau now risks becoming the ‘poor relation’ of both the Cable Beach-based development and Atlantis, overshadowed by the two mega resorts and with numerous tourists and cruise passengers bypassing it in favour of those two destinations.
Comments
John 6 years, 11 months ago
While government moving its offices downtown may help fill empty buildings, unfortunately it will not revive downtown. Like many inner cities around the world, Downtown Nassau has died due to high traffic, lack of parking and the fact that local Bahamians seldom venture down there because they are stopped, searched and sometimes forced off Bay Street by the police. When this first begun almost two decades ago, local downtown merchants were in favor of keeping local Bahamians off Bay Street and making the area near exclusively for tourist. Only afterwards did they realize the amount of money Bahamians spent in stores downtown on jewelery and perfumes and even in the local restaurants. The "T shirt buying and straw market shopping cruise ship passengers could not sustain Bay Street. What Miami is doing is transforming its downtown and building it around it's cruise port, the sports arena and a new culture and performance arts center. many of the old hotel buildings and store fronts have been torn down or transformed into living spaces for persons coming to sporting games, for the performing arts and culture center and persons coming to the city to get on a cruise ship. the Bayfront center still offers shopping and dining and the numerous offices located downtown keeps the area active during the day the key to reviving downtown Nassau will be to increase foot traffic, by increasing living spaces. decrease the number of store fronts, add variety to the shopping and dining experience and add some culture and entertainment
DDK 6 years, 11 months ago
I think Mr. Gomez's idea has real merit. Of course, the Government's financial position has to improve before it could be implemented, but the time is right for its consideration - one government complex in a sensible location with ample parking. Situate the Government complex at the Eastern most part of Bay street and leave a sizeable area for parking between Parliament Square (Elizabeth Avenue) and the complex. The parking could serve both the Government complex and the down-town shopping/dining area. Introduce the ideas of co-ordinated face-lifts for the existing Bay Street concerns and bingo, you have a revival!
kkphilli4 6 years, 11 months ago
All the roofs on Bay Street are old and need to all be replaced with attractive hurricane style roofs. I have been saying that all store owners on Bay Street need to be governed by a separate agency associated with the Ministry of Tourism. Many of the buildings are in desperate need of a paint job and when they are painted they are painted in these dark colors next to a building that is painted in pink etc. It comes off as rather unattractive. In Cayman or even Barbados, there is a consistent color scheme with the buildings in the downtown area. If store owners are given a warning to paint their building and they do not, then they should be fined. This is the main street in the entire Bahamas and it should always look picture ready for the thousands of tourists that come there on a weekly basis. Right now, it is not an attractive place but an unattractive one in need of a desperate intervention.
ThisIsOurs 6 years, 11 months ago
Amen! They need city ordinances. That Pointe monstrosity would have never gone through. The more I look at it the more I wonder, it looks like a big cheap box.
watcher 6 years, 11 months ago
Amen (again) on your point about the Pointe!! Gadzooks - I saw the new signage yesterday.....they want $25 to park for a day???!!!
sheeprunner12 6 years, 11 months ago
The government must implode ALL of the dilapidated and condemned public buildings ............. Clarence Bain Building, Main Post Office, Rodney Bain, Parliamentary Registration, Hawkins Hill Immigration ....... and all of the schools, clinics, offices etc. .......... Then do the same in the Family Islands
sheeprunner12 6 years, 11 months ago
The whole Bay Street area east of East Street can become a zone of high-rise offices and residential flats for singles and young couples to rent to own ............... Again, a simple solution to spur construction and ownership
DDK 6 years, 11 months ago
High-rise? Yuck!
kkphilli4 6 years, 11 months ago
I agree 'This is Yours'. There needs to be a team that walks through Bay Street weekly and cites buildings that need to be painted as well as roofs that need to be not just repaired but replaced. Kind of like a Homeowners Association (HOA) they have in almost all gated communities in Florida. The board of the association will walk around the area weekly and write up warnings to homeowners whose homes need painting or roofs need pressure cleaning etc. They give you 30 days to act on the warning if not the fines begin. If the fines are not paid within 90 days then it is sent to the court for the warning(s) to be enforced and for the fines to be paid. The store owners need to be held accountable for the condition of their properties. If they fail to follow some type of standards then shut it down and let someone else take over the property that can take pride in their ownership. The Ministry of Tourism should be pushing for this accountability. This is the first street tourists go to when they come off the ships and you can never make another first impression.
John 6 years, 11 months ago
"
This suggestion is like trying to feed a fish who is out of the water. If many of the buildings are empty and others partly occupied and if the stores that are still open are struggling for dear life, how can you even suggest putting more financial burden on them with fines and stricter regulations? this is worse than beating a dead horse trying to get him to run. The effort to revive Bay Street must be concerted and must have some financial benefits to property owners before you can even consider enforcing stricter codes and levying fines and penalties. Some financial relief to them even.
kkphilli4 6 years, 11 months ago
If the property owners on Bay Street are so cash strapped that they cannot afford some paint to paint the outside of their building, then they should not own a property on the main street paraded by thousands of tourists weekly. The buildings are dirty and no one in enforcing some kind of standard. I am sick of going on cruises and hearing the tourists saying that Nassau is dirty. Let's start cleaning up and revitilizing Bay Street. I do feel there needs to be something similar to Bayside with one exception. The buildings in Bay Street are historic and have been around since the 1800s. I think they should definitely implode the buildings east of East Street but those west of Bay Street have potential. Some can be turned into more pubs/bars/nightclubs to bring the Bahamian people back to Bay Street for entertainmant etc. Tourists too, will have something to enjoy rather than seeing just cheap t shirt stores. There is more than enough to shirts in the straw market to keep them happy.
John 6 years, 11 months ago
If you owned property that has been sitting vacant for over 10 years what do you think your cash position would be? And consider that property taxes are still being levied on that property despite there being no income from it. What would be your attitude towards fixing and maintaining the property? And then think that there is no potential in the immediate future for the property to start generating revenue. Case in point. The brothers that owned Mikes Shoe Store invested millions on the mini shopping plaza on the water front. Their investment came at the height of the decline of Bay Street. So now not only is their main property unoccupied on Bay Street, but they have a hard time keeping tenants in the shopping plaza. So imagine if they are paying a mortgage on the plaza and still having to pay property taxes and maintenance and upkeep. How long will they be able to sustain this? Will it be fair for the government to take their property after all their struggles and effort to revive Bay Street? But on the other hand the Chinese were given approval in principle to construct several high rise buildings on Bay Street by the previous government. Did they really do a feasibility study? No.! The tract record of the Chines is they build and construct many projects, then abandon them and leave them empty. imagine bay street with several high rise buildings empty and unkept. So yes the way to go, at least for now, is to restore Bay Street similar to what is being done in Miami. Then as the need arises allow high rises to be constructed.
ashley14 6 years, 11 months ago
Your totally right, but what's going to happen if the area isn't cleaned up. The cruise lines are already porting in on their private islands and wanting to keep tourist away from populated areas. I understand not many people fly in any more and stay for a week or more. This is what I prefer, but we aren't talking about me. And by the way I don't agree with what they are doing. One incident with the tourist affects their sales quite a bit, until people forget and come back. If it were made more tourist friendly wouldn't that help the economy quite a bit.
screwedbahamian 6 years, 11 months ago
We need to get rid of all those cheap looking tee shirts shops ( with pricey tee shirts) owned by foreigners and the smelly animals on Woods Rogers Wharf and replace it with an authentic Bahamian experience similar to Bayfront Park in Miami Florida. Tourist and local Bahamians will enjoy and patronize. Outdoor cafe's, authentic Bahamian foods and local drinks and beer, authentic Bahamian Music and most of all colourfully dressed happy and smiling Bahamian host and hostesses of all ages. We need to give our tourist visitors arriving off the cruise ships something other that a smelly congested third world experience on our great Bahamaland.
John 6 years, 11 months ago
And if you think Bay Street is in bad shape, go visit Freeport. So many businesses are closed and so many buildings are damaged or falling apart it must be depressing for the tourist to see. And after driving through the settlements West of Freeport, one could not help but wonder how the people are surviving. But the good thing is their spirits are not broken.
sheeprunner12 6 years, 11 months ago
The Government needs to take back Bay Street from British Colonial to The Bridge ...... This area is too culturally and economically important to stand dilapidated, idle and unused on at least 60-75% of the blocks ........ The so-called land-owners (not tenants) must be made to invest or divest ...... This is where the re-vitalization of the urban economy must begin for Nassau ........... THESE ARE THE HARD DECISIONS THAT THE NEW GOVERNMENT FACES
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