The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Prime Minister must lay out “concrete plans” for the Grand Lucayan and Grand Bahama International Airport when he speaks to the island’s future today, with one private sector leader urging: “We need particulars we can sink our teeth into.”

Dillon Knowles, the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce’s president, told Tribune Business yesterday that Philip Davis KC cannot rely on more “promises” and “theoreticals” as he called on the Prime Minister to provide “clarity” for the island’s business community so that they can plan for their immediate and long-term futures with confidence.

Warning that Grand Bahama “doesn’t take promises well in the best of times”, he added that the island was in desperate need of a major investor or project to “plant the flagpole” and undertake a development that will attract more investment capital to both Freeport and outside the Port area.

Voicing hope that both the resort and airport will “move us in a particular direction” if redevelopment work starts imminently, Mr Knowles reiterated that Freeport was master-planned as a city capable of hosting 250,000 persons but currently only has a population equal to one-fifth, or 20 percent, of this.

With the Prime Minister poised to address Freeport and Grand Bahama’s prospects after today’s Cabinet meeting, the GB Chamber president said: “I guess what Grand Bahama is hoping to hear is any news, any good news, about the Grand Lucayan and the airport, and whatever is going to go down with the cruise port at the harbour; whatever form it is taking at this point in time.

“That’s morphed a number of times. I don’t know who the exact players are at this point in time, and it seems to change like the weather. Grand Bahama is hoping to hear about additional progress on developments.” The “cruise port” refers to long-awaited plans by Royal Caribbean, together with ITM Group and Mediterranean Shipping Company’s (MSC) cruise arm, to develop a water-based adventure park and extra berths at Freeport Harbour.

Rupert Hayward, a Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) director, also disclosed last year that the two cruise companies were teaming with the Freeport Harbour Company to redevelop Billy Cay into a new cruise port and amusement park. However, the Freeport Harbour cruise port project - as with the Grand Lucayan and airport - has been on the drawing board for several years but seemingly never able to close or come to fruition.

With a general election imminent, the Prime Minister’s statement on Grand Bahama is almost bound to include the Government’s efforts to sell the Grand Lucayan and redevelop the Grand Bahama International Airport - especially since both projects have suffered multiple false dawns and starts under both his administration and its predecessor.

After a potential sale to Electra America Hospitality Group fell through in the preliminary stages, the Government announced with much fanfare in May 2025 that it had secured a fresh Grand Lucayan buyer in the shape of Concord Wilshire, a Miami-headquartered developer, which promised to pay a $120m purchase price and invest $827m in the resort’s transformation.

However, there has seemingly been little progress over the past seven months, with the Grand Lucayan remaining in the Government’s hands as it works to close the deal with Concord Wilshire. Multiple resort staff have complained about not receiving due salary payments in whole or on time, and of being sent home without pay or being formally terminated.

As for Grand Bahama International Airport, Chester Cooper, deputy prime minister, in February 2024 pledged that demolition work would begin “within the next 30 days” having initially announced the deal with the Government’s private sector partners in March 2023. But promises of an imminent work start failed to materialise in both 2023 and 2024, and little to no improvements have occurred despite suggestions the project would have finished by now.

“It needs to be concrete plans,” Mr Knowles said of the Prime Minister’s promised announcement. “It can’t be promises. Grand Bahama does take promises well in the best of times, and it definitely doesn’t take promises well when there’s been such a long period of time between the initial promises and wherever we may be or not be at this point.

“I think that what the business community and public in general want to hear is that the deal [for the Grand Lucayan] has closed, that money has changed hands as per the agreement whatever that number is, that the developer has taken possession, that the developer has submitted his plans and got the necessary approvals for demolition and construction, and the timeline of ‘x’ years.” Mr Knowles said similar sentiments apply to the airport.

Tribune Business sources have suggested that the Grand Lucayan deal with Concord Wilshire is largely completed, with the developer and the Government working rapidly to complete all necessary closing documents. Speaking on condition of anonymity, several contacts have revealed that both MSC and Disney Cruise Line have expressed interest in developing water-based adventure parks close to the resort.

Similarly, it has also been suggested that the $110m financing deal for Grand Bahama International Airport, involving monies repurposed by the Saudi Fund for Development, has already been signed and agreed. The funding was said to come with a low, attractive interest rate and repayment grace period but, if this is so, it is unclear why the Government has yet to formally unveil this.

Tribune Business was also told that senior executives from Manchester Airport Group, the UK-based airport operator that was selected to manage Grand Bahama International Airport, were supposed to arrive on the island in the first week of January to start overseeing the redevelopment process, but that this date was subsequently pushed back several times.

“There’s no room now for theoreticals,” Mr Knowles told Tribune Business yesterday. “We need real particulars that we can sink our teeth into, that the business community can plan around, so they know what to do with their businesses; whether they need to be upgrading, diversifying or whatever the case may be to support these activities, but nobody’s going to that until there’s some clarity.”

Voicing hope that the Grand Lucayan and airport redevelopments can “jump start” Freeport’s economy if they proceed, and attract fresh investor capital, the GB Chamber president nevertheless said they were unlikely to turn around the city and island’s economy by themselves.

“Obviously, every little but counts,” he added. “I don’t think that the projects on the table would even come close to touching the potential for Grand Bahama, but it will definitely start to move us in the right direction and create some momentum, and cause others to do likewise.

“Back in the day, DevCO (Grand Bahama Development Company) sold the land now owned by Weller Group to Marriott. Marriott pointed out that it was quite happy to develop, but wanted someone else to do so first. They wanted someone else to move first, but that didn’t happen. We need someone to put the flagpole in the ground, build it, develop it, and others will come.

“Money goes where money is. We need the jump start. We need the catalyst, and these projects definitely could be the catalyst… We cannot rely on one or two projects to move Grand Bahama forward. Freeport was built for 250,000 and we have one-fifth of that.”

The Prime Minister’s address could also focus on Royal Caribbean Cruise Line and Celebrity Cruise Line’s acquisition of Freeport’s long-closed Xanadu Beach Hotel and surrounding land as part of a planned $348m investment - a deal that is understood to be ready to close imminently.

A further topic could be the Government’s $357m arbitration dispute with the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA), with a verdict expected from the three-person arbitration panel possibly before January’s end.