The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A attorney for the Cabbage Beach Vendors Association yesterday pledged its members will "stand up and fight" if the Ocean Club's expansion impacts their access to Paradise Island's northern shore.

Maria Daxon, also the Coalition of Independents deputy leader, in a voice note said the Association was ready to safeguard its interests notwithstanding suggestions that the Government is negotiating an agreement with the $400m project's developer to secure access to Cabbage Beach for vendors and other Bahamians.

“The Four Seasons is building whatever it is they are building there, but that property don’t have nothing to do with Cabbage Beach. That property where the Four Seasons is supposed to be putting whatever they are putting there has nothing to do with Cabbage Beach," Ms Daxon added.

“We don’t have a problem with them as long as they don’t bother with us. When the RIU was building they said the same thing - that they were going to close the easement for Cabbage Beach - and no, they didn’t. They built their hotel and we benefit off of them, so whenever Four Seasons put their hotel there we will benefit off of their guests.”

Ms Daxon, though, said the Government needs to “shut it down” if the Ocean Club expansion blocks access for Cabbage Beach vendors. Wendi Constantine, president of the Bahamas Dock and Allied Venues Vendors Association (BDAVVA,) who represents the Cabbage Beach vendors, told Tribune Business that maintaining access to Cabbage Beach would be “good” for the vendors.

Access Industries, the existing Ocean Club’s owner, has confirmed it is partnering with Florida-based real estate developer, Two Roads Development, and the high-end Four Seasons resort brand, to construct 67 private residences on land it owns at Cabbage Beach that will be priced between $6.5m and $23m. The project is billed as creating 200 full-time jobs for Bahamians when it is completed in 2027.

Tribune Business understands that the The Ocean Club, Four Seasons Residences will be developed at a 6.1-acre site located between the RIU Paradise Island resort and Sunrise Beach Villas on Paradise Island’s northern coast.

The developer consortium is thought to be concluding the project’s final details, including obtaining all planning and environmental approvals and other necessary permits, with the Davis administration. Among the key issues being discussed by the two sides is the preservation of access to Cabbage Beach for Bahamian vendors and locals, and it is understood a solution may be close or have been agreed upon.

“The issue they had was how to leave it open to the public but keep the right to a five-star resort,” one source familiar with developments confirmed on condition of anonymity. “They’ve agreed the roadway will be open and remain in place. I think it will be a win-win for all sides.”

Beach access for Bahamians has long been a sensitive and emotive issue, with Cabbage Beach an especially sore point. The issue has erupted under both the last Christie administration and its Minnis successor, with protests in 2016 resulting in the tearing-down of a gate and fencing that blocked public access to Cabbage Beach over Access Industries’ property.

It reared up again in 2021 after Bahamian vendors, returning to work after COVID restrictions were eased, found the Paradise Island beach entrance locked and their items relocated across the street. This sparked immediate upset and protests, with some vendors forcing open the locked gates and placing their possessions back on the beach.

Access Industries, at the time, explained that it installed fencing and locked the gates as a measure to guard against “safety” concerns related to the construction of its residences project - although it has taken another two-plus years for the development to come close to reaching that stage.

However, the beach access by the RIU is not a public right of way or easement. For it is located on private land whose owners have allowed Bahamians to use it, a judge having branded it a “private access way” with the Supreme Court ruling in favour of the owners/developers and against the Cabbage Beach vendors every time the matter has been taken to court.

Ownership of the 6.1 acre development parcel, and the Cabbage Beach access point, was transferred by Atlantis and its owner, Brookfield Asset Management, to Access Industries when the latter acquired the Ocean Club from them in 2014.