By NEIL HARTNELL
Tribune Business Editor
nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
and NATARIO McKENZIE
Tribune Business Reporter
nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net
The 10-month wait for a government decision on whether to lift downtown Nassau’s height restrictions was yesterday branded “criminal”, a leading realtor saying it was depressing property values and inhibiting investment proposals critical to the area’s revival.
Larry Roberts, NAI Bahamas’ chief executive, told Tribune Business that it was impossible to develop a condo or hotel-related project on the former Union Wharf property without going up multiple storeys.
Mr Roberts, who is the lead realtor in efforts to secure a buyer for the property, located next to the Elizabeth on Bay plaza, described the wait for a government decision on whether to lift height restrictions in the area as “very frustrating”.
The request, he added, had been made in December 2013, and government feedback indicated a decision would be made by end-January this year, To-date, none has been forthcoming.
“It’s very, very frustrating,” Mr Roberts told this newspaper. “We were told in January that some decision would be made by the end of that month.”
Union Wharf is now undergoing a sealed bid auction process, with all offers due in by early November.
But Mr Roberts said the uncertainty over height restrictions, and what types of development might be permitted, were affecting the potential purchase price that Union Wharf might attract.
Current height restrictions in the downtown Nassau area limit properties to a maximum of four storeys, and he added: “Certainly, we can get a lot more for the property if we can go up higher.
“I’ve heard unofficially that they’re [the Government] likely to approve six to eight storeys, but our proposal put in for 13 storeys on one of the towers. You can’t put a condo or hotel development in there without going up.”
Of the protracted wait for a decision, Mr Roberts said: “It’s criminal. There’s no other word for it. They’re taking so long to make a decision, the whole development is being held up.”
He added that it was a similar story with the proposed Nassau harbourfront boardwalk.
“We know how desperate the country is for something to happen downtown, and it won’t happen unless something makes sense,” Mr Roberts said. “The Prime Minister said he’s in favour of the boardwalk, but then nothing.”
A Downtown Nassau Partnership (DNP) executive yesterday told Tribune Business that proposals for the boardwalk called for structures that would exceed current height restrictions, with some developers seeking as much as seven storeys in height.
DNP project manager, Gevon Moss, said: “There are height restrictions. All of the stakeholders have been to the table and discussed what kind of concessions they want, and that will really help to active that particular area, inclusive of a boardwalk, which will showcase the harbour - a unique feature of downtown.
“Height restrictions are definitely one of the issues. Some proposals I have seen are higher than four storeys, and I think I saw one that was around seven. A boardwalk idea will allow traffic to move easily to all the amenities that are going to be built and attached to that boardwalk.”
Former Deputy Prime Minister Brent Symonette, in a recent Tribune Business interview, urged the Government to “stop buck passing” and decide final plans for Nassau’s harbour front boardwalk.
Mr Symonette told Tribune Business that harbourfront real estate owners had been waiting several months for the Christie administration to determine the way forward.
Recalling the last meeting with the Prime Minister, Mr Symonette said the Government wanted to hire another consultant, at a cost of $150,000-$170,000, to develop a purported ‘boardwalk masterplan’.
He said that the waterfront property owners rejected this, arguing that enough studies had been performed, and this would in effect be a ‘report to go over another report’.
Mr Symonette said his family and other property owners had provided the Government with various options for the boardwalk, which is supposed to run east from the British Colonial Hilton all the way to Potter’s Cay Dock.
They were now “waiting for answers” from the Government on what is supposed to be the next major project to spur downtown Nassau’s revitalisation, following the $2 million upgrade to Pompey Square.
And Mr Symonette warned that downtown Nassau’s major property owners, his family among them, would not invest in the redevelopment of their landholdings until the Government gave them “the rules of the game”.
Mr Symonette identified potential changes to height restrictions on downtown Nassau buildings as one key issue awaiting such a decision.
As recently reported by Tribune Business, China also has interest in downtown Nassau which goes far beyond the potential British Colonial Hilton purchase, having presented Prime Minister Perry Christie with a ‘Master Plan’ to redevelop Bay Street and surrounding areas.
Highly-placed sources confirmed to this newspaper that Chinese interests have developed their own EDAW-style comprehensive plan to revitalise the city of Nassau - involving their own real estate acquisitions and developments - and quietly presented this to the Government.
Tribune Business contacts close to the administration confirmed that talks between Chinese state-owned interests, likely China State Construction, and the Government have taken place, but the discussions are at an early stage and nothing has been agreed or decided.
Mr Moss yesterday told Tribune Business the DNP had yet to see the plans being proposed by the Chinese.
DNP managing director Ed Fields recently told Tribune Business that he would be “all for” development that would bring “jobs, life and the economic activity” to Bay Street, arguing that it was time to “step out of our self-imposed xenophobic space and get it done”.
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