Six Men's Marina Hot Elections Topic

"GOVERNMENT HAS DISMISSED rumours that it plans to move residents of Six Men's in St Peter and allow a private marina to be built there.
Addressing the controversial topic of the St Peter fishing village during his general election nomination at Alexandra School on Sunday night, Prime Minister Owen Arthur said Government could not, under law, take the land of any private individual and give it to another private individual or entity to develop.
Saying such thinking was the essence of "voodoo law" and could not be done, Arthur said Government's plan for Six Men's was to build a fishing complex and an inland lagoon, since there was nowhere on the West Coast to harbour boats during the hurricane season.
"They used to pull up (boats) at Port St Charles. The Government cannot rely on that. We need a safe haven for boats," he said.
He said it would mean that people would have to be moved, since a fishing complex and a lagoon could not be sited on the land next to the west of the road in Six Men's.
As far as any private project was concerned, the Prime Minister said that an additonal separate development to the south of Six Men's, called Retreat, was the area for which private persons had applied for permission to develop.
"Now that is not the Government's project. It is not the Government's business. There is not a house on that private land. If those people want to develop a property to the south of Six Men's, not a house will have to move," he pledged.
Blaming a Democratic Labour Party (DLP) member for spreading news of the proposed private marina, he said the DLP should not even show its face in the constituency, since St Peter had had to endure more venom from that party than any other parish.
Blasting late Prime Minister Errol Barrow for saying Boscobelle was not on his map of Barbados and that its residents were behind God's back, Arthur blamed the DLP for abandoning a series of developmental projects in the parish.
Among those he listed were a proposed industrial estate at Six Men's for which land was acquired, but was abandoned when the DLP came to power in 1986; and a proposed fishing complex funded by the European Union, also abandoned in 1986.
Arthur said when the BLP resumed the Government, he therefore felt a duty to the people of Six Men's to start the acquisition again, but the owner of the land had since then taken legal action against the Government.
"The only reason why things haven't been settled with Six Men's is because it is still before the court," stated Arthur, who has represented St Peter since 1984." http://www.nationnews.com/story/360233542408069.php

www.chatteljentillia.info

Government Frustrated By BS&T's Slow Meandering Pace On Pierhead Project

"GOVERNMENT WILL COMPULSORILY acquire the property to begin the Pierhead Development Project if it has to come to that...

Arthur told the gathering Government had enacted in Parliament the Pierhead Development Act to show the great role the project would play in the development of Bridgetown and Barbados' economy...

"Barbados Shipping & Trading owns assets that can be of tremendous strategic importance in the future transformation of the Barbadian society. We will not succeed in taking our country to the next level of development unless we carry out the transformation of our capital City..."

He said Government had worked assiduously with BS&T to see the best beach in Barbados pressed into service and this was one of the reasons for relocating the Coast Guard.

The Prime Minister also said Barbados was being bypassed by yachts because there was no marina in that location.

The company had a right to manage its interest, he said, adding that Government could not remain mum on this issue...

"We have seen this project move from one potential partner to another to another...

He said Government was making positive steps to address the relationship with BS&T to ensure the project came to fruition." - more -


http://www.nationnews.com/story/304245368805972.php

Problems With Rosewood

The ultra-luxury Rosewood hotel brand tapped to manage the resort expected to be built at Harrison?s Point has lost yet another important management contract of a beachfront property. Five years after its contract to manage the Carenage Bay Club on nearby Canouan in the Grenadines had to be terminated it has been announced that the year and a half old Acqualina Resort which recently made the Conde Nast Hot List and located in Sunny Isles, Florida just north of the hip South Beach area will also be hauling down the Rosewood flag at the end of the month. Luxury brand Raffles now runs the Canouan resort but interestingly Acqualina is saying that it is leaving Rosewood to create its own brand. This latter intension, however, cannot hide the obvious dissatisfaction with Rosewood so soon after the resort's opening barely over a year ago. Whatever the problems with Rosewood are, developers at Harrison?s Point and the Bajan public which was invited recently to comment on the plans for the area should pay attention to this latest development.

Pierhead Project Still On Cards

http://www.nationnews.com

Battle for BS&T no problem for Pierhead project
Published on: 10/8/07.

by Geralyn Edward

THE LONG-MOOTED public/private sector Pierhead Project is still on the cards, according to Barbados Shipping & Trading (BS&T) chief executive officer Anthony King.

Providing an update on the initiative which has been nearly a decade in the works, King told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY the current takeover battle between Neal & Massy and ANSA McAL for BS&T had not affected plans for one of the country's most ambitious projects.

The multimillion-dollar project would transform the Pierhead and lower Bay Street sites into a sophisticated shopping, entertainment and upscale accommodation area.

"In a way it is fortunate that there are not a lot of hard decisions or a lot of heavy financial decisions that have to be taken with the Pierhead project at this time.

"As a result, the takeover issue is not affecting it. But clearly, whoever is successful at the takeover will need to look at it and decide how they want to do things," he said in an interview over the weekend.

He explained that Neal & Massy, which for several years had a presence on the BS&T board of directors, "did not have any differences with us on it."

At the same time, the top BS&T executive said most of the project plans were on hold while Government completed the marina portion being handled by Barbados Tourism Investment Corporation.

Still Coming

http://www.cbc.bb/content/view/12486/10/

"Harrison Point to be a luxury resort
Friday, 07 September 2007

A dramatic change of status is on the cards for Harrison Point in St. Lucy. Mike Goddard reports that the site of the temporary prison is to be transformed into a place of luxury. It will be constructed on 83 acres of land, and will comprise a hotel, residential villas, restaurants, pools and a spa, among other things. The Harrison Point Resort development is a joint private and public sector project by the Barbados Tourism Investment Incorporated and Fairways Development Limited. The details are all spelt out in an environmental impact assessment which is now available for public viewing. According to the document, there will be an 80 to 120 room hotel and about 350 residential units plus tennis clubs, jogging track, hiking trails and beach facilities. The residences will be made up of 140 - cliff top units, along with 15 to 20 on the beach, 35 - on the bluff and between 100 and 150 condominiums.

The developers will also be transforming one kilometer of coast line by constructing and relocating two groynes and by creating an offshore island. Harrison Point lighthouse is also to be retained and will be incorporated into a historic centre and park.The Harrison Point Resort development is to be discussed during a town hall meeting at North Stars Cultural and Social Club on Wednesday September 26 at 7.30 p.m..Copies of the environmental impact assessment are presently available for public viewing at the Town Planning Department, the Garrison, at North Stars Club at Crab Hill and Golden Crust Bakery at Maycocks in St. Lucy.The developers say the multi million dollar Harrison Point Resort development will create a unique high quality environment which will benefit visitors, residents and the Barbadian public.It will also improve and revitalise an area of coastline that has not been formally accessible to the public for between 40 and 50 years. This project has been on the cards since 2004 but was put on hold when the fire at Glendairy prisons forced the relocation of prisoners to the site of the old American navy base at Harrison Point."

News Report November 15, 2005

[click here for video]

www.mullinsbay.com

News Report September 22, 2006

'Octopus' Spotted In Carlisle Bay

The Nation is today reporting that Paul Allen's yacht, Octopus, was spotted yesterday in Carlisle Bay in Bridgetown. Too bad he could not moor this 416-foot behemoth up alongside a berth at the nearby Pierhead Marina. Oops, that's still on the drawing boards. He could have tied up at the nearby Bridgetown Port but wary owners and captains of these precious babies usually steer clear of commercial ports and harbors. A single ding could mean a million dollar paint job. Just three days ago this blog lamented the fact that Barbados is woefully behind the market trends in yachting tourism and this sighting underlines that concern.

www.mullinsbay.com

Six Men's Marina Project Outline

Six Men's Marina & Villas
Retreat, St. Peter (13 acres)
Marina -
Villas -
Developers - Port St. Charles
Date - Unknown
Price Tag - Unknown
Status - Submitted for Town Planning approval in 2003
In consultation with Government

Update December 2009
Port Ferdinand
Retreat, St. Peter (15 acres)
Marina - 120 slips
Condos - 96
Developers - Bjorn Bjerkham and Philip Tempro (JADA), Gary Morse (The Villages), Sir Kyffin Simpson, David Simpson
Date - 2014
Price Tag - $750M
Status - Under Construction

Is Barbados Missing The Boat In Yachting

A recent Business Week podcast highlighted the rise and rapid expansion of a new phenomenon in yachting - the mega-yacht and how it has caught marina developers off guard. Many marinas in the Caribbean and elsewhere are now rushing to satisfy this market. Next door in St. Lucia Rodney Bay is upgrading to provide berthing for 50 mega-yachts at one time, and also coming on stream is the redevelopment of the main marina on St. Thomas to handle mega-yachts specifically, as well as several marina projects in the Dominican Republic with mega-yacht components including the massive AtlanticA project. Of course, focusing on mega-yachts is not to overlook the virtual explosion in yachting generally and in tourism related marina construction across the Caribbean.

Where does Barbados sit in all of this excitement about potentially the richest niche of high-end tourism? - in a word not good. Yes, we have Port St. Charles, a successful luxury residential marina on the north west coast which is being copied elsewhere in the region like at the new The Landings residential marina project next door to the Rodney Bay Marina in St. Lucia. But lacking natural harbours and vacant lands for major marina development and being about a hundred miles outside the arc of the island chain has means that Barbados is not exactly at the tip of the tongue of many yachtsmen plying the Caribbean. So, the question is whether our not we are going to allow these potential negatives to keep us from reaping the fruits of the explosion in tourism yachting in the Caribbean.

This brings up the question of the Pierhead Project which is suppose to have a 180-slip marina component that has been languishing for many years. As is usual in Barbados for big undertakings of this kind the main problem seems to be money, i.e., a lack of it. The last real excitement about this project was when Le Meridien got onboard with the hotel component; but whatever funds they may or may not have been bringing to the table probably dried up when they themselves were gobbled up by Starwood Hotels which is currently in a mad rush getting out of the property ownership business and into the "management-only" business. Therefore, if anything big is to happen at the Pierhead it is going to call for bold leadership and foresight.

If we had let a little thing like lacking a natural harbour stop us from constructing a deep water port back in the late 1950s, we would still be tendering sugar in bags to ships moored in Carlisle Bay today, not to mention still lacking the world-class cruise tourism terminal the Port of Bridgetown is today. If we had let a little thing like being outside the arc of the island chain stop the construction of Seawell Airport back in the 1950s, we would not have the regional hub the Grantley Adams International is today, not to mention the island with one of the most successful tourism sectors in the entire Caribbean. The Pierhead project needs to be re-emphasized, retooled and repositoned as our next major leap forward in tourism. We are already 20 years behind St. Lucia which 16 years ago stole from us the lucrative ARC race (by the way - "the largest transocean sailing event in the world") and with the current lack of boldness and leadership in marina development on the island we may still miss the boat entirely.

www.mullinsbay.com