BEST Calls For Lease Agreement Termination
The Bermuda Environmental Sustainability Taskforce [BEST] is appealing to the Government to terminate the Park Hyatt/Bazarian agreement to “put us on the right footing as regards this lost opportunity.”
The former Club Med hotel closed in 1988, and has not been used as a tourism resort since that time. It is scheduled to become a Park Hyatt hotel, and construction was originally due to start some time ago, and the resort was slated to open in 2012.
“The end of the year has come and still there is no movement on the Park Hyatt site in St. George’s,” a statement from BEST said.
“Further to the concerns expressed in our December 13th press release, Mr. Carl Bazarian has failed once again to meet the terms of the development agreement and BEST is appealing to the new Government to terminate the agreement and so put us on the right footing as regards this lost opportunity.
“Regaining control of one of our scarce and precious assets will mean that we won’t just let the fates lead us where they will. We will begin a new year and a new era in our history by truly stepping-up to the responsibility of charting our own course in securing a development partnership that is more suitable to our small island home.
“Mr. Bazarian has not shown the level of commitment to Bermuda that we would have expected and it is wholly unacceptable for such a treasure to be tied up once again in this type of gridlock.
“What can happen right now is for the golf course to be reopened, with a new clubhouse if possible, so that St. Georgians can once again derive the benefit from an amenity that has been denied to them and other Bermudians over the past 5 years.”
this is so sad… the PLP stated several times and the most recent news artice was that the work would begin in Dec… well tomorrow is Jan and nothing… such a shame!
This will be interesting since the new MP for St. George seems to be of the opinion that Mr. Bazarian should be allowed to proceed…. welcome to 2013!!
@ Vote for Me: Are you sure about that? Or was Mr. Bascome saying that Mr. Bazarian needed to get on with it, if he was going to do something, instead of these delaying tactics. I doubt if he is wedded to a particular developer, just that the development finally be commenced AND completed..
I’m pretty sure you would find that Mr. Bascome’s preferences are that the St. George Club be back in service and something positive done with the Club Med site, no matter who does it, as long as St. George’s benefits.
MP Kenny Bascome did say he had confidence in Mr. Bazarian on ZBM Lets Talk after having meetings with him. Give MP Bascome time to change is statement. Right now he’s still pi$$ off for not getting a Minister seat after beating Jennifer Smith with his eyes close. Dam what a easy victory.
Same old same old…Bazarian has been turned down from the former government… so give it up Kenny .
I think the news should ask Kenny Bascome himself and see what he says. I understand he is not exactly on great terms with the new Premier and his administration.
A failure from the defunct and discredited PLP.
The next few months will be spent undoing messes.
Best – while you are at it have the White’s Island lease terminated as well.
It may be a good idea to know exactly what is in the White’s Island lease
The Cartel has done nothing there and Pastor Bean is scamming the other users.
I agree. Let’s admit to ourselves that Dr Brown promised us the world but gave us nothing, and give the people back our public golf course! The plp had no right to take this course from the people and give it to foreign investors, who did nothing with it.
We can sit all day and blame the previous government or this government,the Mayor of St.George or anyone else for that matter.
The real truth is Mr Bazarian said he can deliver the goods and he has not and even with the extention he has not been forth coming with no productivity,the biggest mistake we ever made was allowing the deal to be forged into letting the golf course become a part of the deal.
Mr Everest DaCosta on the talk show has long called for the deal to be recalled and that Mr Bazarian should be made to compensate the Bermudian public for the tearing down of the golf house and restaurant that could have been still in operation to this day and the beach house as well.so we lost quite a lot in the east end and we need to be compensated for our losses and the property must be return to us.
For this Government to do anything less,that would be shameful.so we need not keep looking back at who did what and when but what are we going to do about it now,especially when we are in a position to do something before we get road blocked with legalities that wont amount to nothing but a whole lot of tax payers dollars running after bad investments.
Duane, blame your past leader Brown, who you have always admired,for the fiasco with Bazarian. and there is going to a lot more to unfold.
You supported the PLP in its stupid venture with Bazarian, and now if the new government can’t get compensation from him it will be “shameful”. I’ll tell you what’s shameful. The idiots who made and perpetuated the stupid promises that we listened to over the past 6 years or so.
@Mad Dawg – please know that I will be asking others the same thing as I am going to ask you here. Are you be willing to consider what you post in your comments going forward?
Name-calling just doesn’t help good communication… and effective communication, I think, will be so important to building bridges between us all in this small community. I think we will all benefit from each of us being willing to raise our standards in the way we put our voices out there… toward building a better Bermuda.
Word on the sreet is that the P.L.P. are in such a mess that certain elected members may resign.
Haha , Word for real … Cannons ear is excluded from the inner circle of the UBP mechanism that’s directing the traffic from HQ .
this needs to be carefully looked into..who paid what and who got paid for what.
i guest wayne furbert was right its over
Face it – Bazarian is not a developer. At best he’s a matchmaker between investors and developers.
“Bazarian International
Carl Bazarian, Jr., Principal
Bazarian International is an international investment banking firm located in Washington, D.C. providing clients with extensive financial services at every stage of their project. The company was founded by Carl J. Bazarian who is a seasoned veteran in hospitality developments, international finance, and project advisory. Bazarian International has as its mission to provide clients with the highest-quality service, guidance, and efficiency in order to produce the most successful project possible. Bazarian will recommend the luxury hotel/lodging brands conducive to the above attributes. Once the Liberty Harbor development team decides upon the most suitable and desirable brand for the project, Bazarian International will provide strategic consultation in the negotiation, execution, and implementation of a suitable branding agreement. Prior to founding Bazarian International, Carl Bazarian spent 20 years at East-West Financial Services in Washington, providing investment banking services to over 40 projects throughout the Caribbean, as well as in countries such as Argentina, Costa Rica, Armenia, Georgia, Greece, and the Ukraine.”
I wanda how much Carl paid for the lease. And just as important, who was paid.
@blankman,
That pretty much says it all doesn’t it?
I love the insinuations that the Bazarian deal was some secret deal struck with Brown and the PLP. That might make sense if this was a prestigious site, but come on! We all know the key to real estate is location, location, and location, and there are MUCH better locations out there for a hotel in Bermuda than St. George’s. St. George’s is an unproven resort location (remember Holiday Inn, Loews and Club Med? There is a reason they all came a left) and it will take a real vision to make a resort work there. I personally believe enough there to make something work. But, on the other hand, I don’t have to put millions of dollars at risk to see if I am right or not. So the question is not who in Government was paid off and for how much, rather how much does Government need to offer to get a developer to consider jumping into that deal.
As far as I am concerned, it doesn’t matter who agreed with the deal, (thank you for the correction regarding Mr. Bascome, @ MAN), Mr. Bazarian is, to all intents and purposes, in breach of his contract and therefore forfeits his lease and any rights to that property.
Better to have it sit vacant until we find someone who actually wants to develop it, as it has done for the last few years, than half developed like his other properties (Google him and see what a mess he has left on other islands) while Bermuda can do nothing with it for the next 125 years.