The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A Freeport timeshare resort that has lost 80 per cent of its business due to loss of amenities and access associated with the Royal Oasis saga is seeking a buyer, while committing to staying open through 2016.

Jack Grobowsky, Freeport Resort & Club’s president, yesterday told Tribune Business that he wanted to see a new investor take over and take the property “to the next level”.

He added that he planned to pave the way for the takeover by either settling or concluding the litigation he launched in late 2011 to win back the amenity access and ‘right of way’ his clients had lost under successive Royal Oasis owners.

“We have made a commitment to remain open for all of 2016, meaning that any of our timeshare owners who exchange to other resorts around the world will have their accommodations honoured and, by the same token, those coming in will be honoured by us,” Mr Grobowsky told Tribune Business.

“We have put the resort up for sale,for some investor to take it to the next level, so that is on-going. I plan to settle or finish the litigation without impact to a Freeport Resort take-over developer, except if we win the amenities back, that reversal of the amenity denial will benefit the new investor.

“I don’t want the Bahamian public to think we are not open, as we need rent to replace the lost maintenance fees to survive.”

Tribune Business revealed on Monday how Mr Grobowsky had seen his timeshare unit owners dwindle from 1,800 to around 500 today after losing their ‘right of way’ across Sunrise Highway and access to the Bahamia Beach Club and golf courses.

He added that Freeport Resort & Club has had “to quit marketing” its product as a result, and accused both the Government and Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) of giving two consecutive Royal Oasis owners - Driftwood Hospitality (Freeport) and Harcourt Developments - “a pass” on their obligations to his clients.

Mr Grobowsky, a 37-year investor in Freeport, explained that he was induced to purchase several lots in the Bahamian subdivision by a Canadian realtor that marketed the opportunity on behalf of then-Royal Oasis owner, Princess International.

To obtain approval to solicit such investments in Canada, the sales prospectus had to be filed and registered with the Ontario state government.

This occurred in September 1977, and Mr Grobowsky said lawyers had advised him that several of its terms represented binding legal obligations on the Royal Oasis owner that remain in effect until today.

These gave purchasers, including Freeport Resort & Club’s timeshare owners, access to the two Royal Oasis golf courses, the Bahamia Beach Club and associated facilities.

Mr Grobowsky said these attractions encouraged him to develop his timeshare business, along with a 1981 easement agreement with the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) that created a 500-yard ‘right of access’ across Sunrise Highway to the shops in the International Bazaar.

He told Tribune Business that problems only started to occur upon Driftwood’s ill-fated purchase of the Royal Oasis from Princess in 2000.

Apart from failing to rebuild the Bahamia Beach Club, Mr Grobowsky said Driftwood’s takeover resulted in increased golf course rates and reduced benefits, and an increase in land service charges in the Bahamian subdivision by 60 per cent.

His timeshare owners also lost access to both golf courses upon their closure in 2004, as Driftwood ‘cut and ran’ from Freeport, picking up the hurricane insurance monies while simultaneously shutting the Royal Oasis and leaving behind around $25 million in debts.

Mr Grobowsky, though, said that equally as damaging was the GBPA’s 2002 decision to divert the Sunrise Highway so Driftwood could build a man-made beach for its hotel guests.

This eliminated Freeport Resort & Club’s ‘right of way’, making trips to the International Bazaar “seven times’ longer”. Mr Grobowsky summed it up thus: “It screwed us on our access; our shopping access.”

Although Driftwood and its financier, Lehman Brothers, ultimately sold the Royal Oasis to Harcourt Developments in 2007, the Canadian businessman said the Irish-headquartered property developer had done little to restore the rights previously enjoyed by Freeport Resort & Club’s timeshare owners.