The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

JACK Grobowsky, president of the Freeport Resort & Club, says the timeshare property is empty and has suffered significant decline in returning vacationers over the past 15 years, from 1,800 unit weeks to just 500.

“We have only 350 owners left, and we have stopped selling timeshare,” he said during a tour of the resort yesterday.

Mr Grobowsky expressed his frustration with the government and the Grand Bahama Port Authority for ignoring valid concerns and complaints from timeshare owners over the loss of three major amenities following the sale of the Princess properties. He noted that the owners enjoyed the right of way access through Sunrise Highway, access to two golf courses – the Ruby and Emerald Golf courses – and access to the former Bahamia Beach Club for 21 years through the original Princess owners.

He said owners were denied access to these amenities when Driftwood, the operators of the Royal Oasis, purchased the Princess Properties in 2000, and which continued when Harcourt bought the Driftwood/Lehman Brothers asset.

“These amenity rights centred on a Bahamia Prospectus filed in Ontario promising golf privileges and the Bahamia Beach Club,” he said.

Mr Grobowsky filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court in December 2011 against Driftwood, Harcourt and the Grand Bahama Port Authority over the issue.

Freeport Resort developers, timeshare owners, and employees have written 1,700 letters to the government and the Port Authority about their plight and pledged to resolve it by enforcing the obligations on the violators. However, Mr Grobowsky said both have taken a hands-off approach. “They say that they cannot talk about it because the matter is in court,” he said.

Very low occupancy and lack of returning vacationers has taken its toll on the resort, which has had to cut staff from 15 to seven.

Mr Grobowsky said he has lost millions trying to keep it going. He noted that in 1979 the units sold for as low as $3,000 to $4,000, and prices had significantly increased with the last unit sold there for $15,000, about 15 years ago. He has decided to put the property on the market for sale “at a real reduced price”.

Resort manager Rochelle Williams made an appeal to the relevant authorities for help. “The staff has written letters to the government asking for help. We need our jobs, we have families,” she said. Mrs Williams has worked at the resort for 27 years and recalled when occupancy levels were very high.

“During this time it used to be busy for us, and the pool area would be full with guests. Our occupancy would be anywhere from 75 to 80 per cent, and higher during the winter months with 100 per cent occupancy.”

She said that they began seeing a decline in vacationers after closure of pathways and loss of other amenities. “Our boss (Mr Grobowksy) and his wife have been fighting to keep us employed. We had to reduce staff and cut days to keep the resort open. It is hard. We didn’t think we are going to see 2016 and they have agreed to stay open until then so that we would still have jobs,” Mrs Williams said.

“We are asking the relevant authorities for help; do not ignore us because we are Bahamians too … and we need our jobs.”

Mr Grobowksy said that they are not the only victims. He said that Freeport and the entire Grand Bahama community has been affected by the Royal Oasis/Driftwood and Harcourt fiasco, which is the single impediment to the island’s economic recovery in the past 15 years “and we happen to be a pretty major victim in that,” he said.