The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Grand Bahama’s Chamber of Commerce president yesterday urged that “no effort be spared” to find the right buyer for the former Ginn project whose progress has stalled for more than a decade.

James Carey told Tribune Business it was “critical” that the correct investor be found to fulfill the original development vision for the 2,012-acre West End site after this newspaper revealed earlier this week that Kingwood International Resorts; bid to obtain the necessary government approvals had again been rejected by the Davis administration.

“Ginn started with a bang in West End, Grand Bahama, many years ago, and it was intended to really be the economic catalyst for west Grand Bahama,” he said. “Nothing much has happened in the west since then apart from Old Bahama Bay, which although open appears not to be doing too much else.

“It’s critical for west Grand Bahama, and ultimately all Grand Bahama, because it would provide employment for a number of people in the Freeport area looking for jobs. Obviously it’s critical, and effort should not be spared to locate and find the right buyer for that project and get it all done.”

Mr Carey said Grand Bahama had something of an unfortunate track record with major resort projects and investments, as the Royal Oasis, Ginn and now the Grand Lucayan have all lain dormant for years and, in the case of the former two, well over a decade after developers foundered, failed to deliver on their promises and ambitions, and exited in various ways leaving the island, its residents and the private sector to pick up the pieces.

“It’s just very unfortunate,” he added of the island’s history in resort operations. “We’ve taken baby steps forward but taken giant steps back from time to time. One of the things that’s really encouraging is the resilience of the people in Grand Bahama. They’re still very determined to make it and work through it. The importance of small businesses in Grand Bahama becomes critical to ongoing progress.

“I believe there are some projects in the works that have not been announced yet. I expect in the next couple of months to hear about some things coming to Grand Bahama. Personally I like to see concrete poured. There’s a history of signs going up, dirt turned, but we need some oomph in Grand Bahama. It just needs a break.”

Tribune Business revealed earlier this week how Kingwood, the rejected Ginn buyer, last week agreed to pay $325,000 in sanctions to settle COVID fraud allegations after it was accused by the US Justice Department of “knowingly providing false information” to secure pandemic-related financial assistance via a scheme involving “ghost” employees that was designed to “personally benefit” its principals.

The disclosures, and related fines and penalties, provide further justification for the Davis administration’s repeated rejections of Kingwood as a suitable purchaser for such a large and potentially valuable tract of resort development real estate. This newspaper revealed in July 2022 that Kingwood and its principals had been turned down by the Davis administration, yet subsequent information suggested the group was not dissuaded and made a second, fresh bid.

And last week’s confirmation of their rejection may still not be the end of the Kingwood saga. For Tribune Business has obtained documents revealing that, in August 2022, Ginn’s former financing partner attempted to conclude the project’s sale to Kingwood offshore and outside The Bahamas.

The papers reveal that executives from Lubert Adler, the Philadelphia-based investment bank that provided West End’s seed capital, and which took over the development after original developer, Bobby Ginn and his Ginn Clubs & Resorts, defaulted on their loan repayments in 2011, resigned en masse from their positions as officers and directors with a variety of project companies on August 3, 2022.

Those departing included Ira Lubert and Dan Adler, Lubert Adler’s principals, plus Amanda ‘Amy’ Wilde, who for more than a decade had served as Lubert Adler’s ‘point person’ in trying to secure a new buyer/investor. They were replaced on three separate corporate Boards by Richard Nasser and Anthony Carll, respectively Kingwood’s resort division president and general manager of its Reunion resort in Orlando, Florida.

Messrs Nasser and Carll, together with Kingwood’s ultimate chief and owner, Farbod ‘Fred’ Zohouri, are all named personally as defendants in the original US Department of Justice lawsuit that was finally unsealed last week to coincide with the settlement agreement.

However, the documents obtained by Tribune Business show that Messrs Nasser and Carll are now president and vice-president/secretary, respectively, of LRA-OBB Ltd, which stands for (Lubert-Adler-Old Bahama Bay), the entity which owns the common areas around the Old Bahama Bay resort’s condominiums, pool, beach, marina, shops, restaurants, undeveloped golf course, and much of the land previously controlled by Ginn.

Mr Zohouri’s signature appears on the documents affirming the officers and directors change in his capacity as head of Reunion Cay Island Resort Ltd, a Delaware-based company said to be the manager of LRA-OBB LLC, a Georgia company that is described as the sole shareholder of its Bahamian equivalent.

And, by virtue of LRA-OBB being the sole shareholder, the Kingwood group’s control of that company also enabled it to appoint Messrs Nasser and Carll as president and vice-president/secretary of Grand Bahama Resort Utility Services and Sur Mer Club Ltd. The former provides all utility services to the ex-Ginn project, while the latter is a hospitality services vehicle that collects maintenance fees and holds the common area, beach club and services operations.

The appointments of the Kingwood executives took place on August 4, 2022, just one day after the resignations of the Lubert Adler executives who they replaced. Tribune Business sources have confirmed that Kingwood, and Messrs Nasser and Carll, remain in these posts today, and have voiced fears that the situation threatens to create an impasse, or quagmire, that will prevent any resolution at West End in the form of fresh investment and a new buyer.

For while Kingwood cannot move forward in the absence of government approvals, it is seemingly not going anywhere and remains in control of corporate entities critical to progress at the 2,012-acre site. As a result, the concern is that no other viable investor will dare look at acquiring the Ginn project - and seek to realise its initial vision - until Mr Zohouri and his colleagues have finally departed.