Video: Chris Maybury On Fairmont SDO
Speaking in advance of the Town Hall held last night [April 25], Chris Maybury addressed some of the concerns about the Fairmont Southampton Special Development Order [SDO] and also explained some of the benefits of the proposed development.
The Town Hall was very well attended, with the seats inside appearing to be full. It was open to in-person attendees and not able to be live streamed, however our cameraman was able to get comment prior to the town hall getting underway.
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I am in full support of this redevelopment. Bermuda needs it and Bermudians need it. Those against it have very specific biases that prevent them from supporting it. The government just needs to make it happen.
“Those against it have very specific biases… ”
Biases like strongly wishing to preserve the precious little green open space we have left ? The very same environment that was responsible for building our tourism industry in the first place ?
Or possibly a ‘bias’ against believing that millions in tax grants (which will fall onto us ,the general public to cover) must be given to a multi million dollar company who’s now threatening us ? Those kind of biases ?
You reveal yourself. You’re obviously part of the “friends and family” crowd.
We need it because the PLP have destroyed Bermuda. It’s really that simple.
What? You mean you unreservedly and blindly support a PLP initiative? So unlike you. /s
Dear Mr. Mayberry, Go Ahead Sir, Build it! You have my PERMISSION! I am a close neighbor to the Hotel. I Watched your video. I agree With you. Nearly nobody builds 600 room hotels today unless it is a massive tourist attraction, which Bermuda is not on that caliber currently. Hotels are regularly built 60-140 rooms. I, as a Bermudian realize that residential is needed to sustain this whale of a hotel. Don’t let people sway you by their exaggerated mindsets. I saw the pictorial on the building Spacers. That was not finish design. That is not the Concrete Jungle certain people are worried about.
Certain trees on this Island grow much higher than 6 levels. I would rather have that, than a much larger footprint. And there is much Green space preservation according to the plans. The hotel sits on a hill and is much higher than the proposed residential. This will seriously help out economy. The list is to huge to relate. All a House owner has to do is figure in the course of a year, all the bills he has to pay into the economy for necessities and luxuries. There you have it. You don’t know me, but I say bring it! You have my BLESSINGS!!!! Thank You for considering Bermuda. May you have every success , and you are welcome in Bermuda!
Your nearby neighbor.
The only trees that I can think of that can grow +6 storys here are Norfolk Pines , basically an introduced weed that fragments , snaps and topples in a Cat 1 hurricane. And I’m pretty sure none of them are going to be utilized for foliar coverage in this development .
neighbour you are being duped by a foreign real estate developer who wants nothing more than to maximise their investment at our expense. They KNOW how badly we want the hotel up and running so they are effectively holding it for ransom unless we agree to development of some of our last remaining precious open space (dwindling by the day on our island sadly) and their throwing up 6 storey apartment blocks which are completely out of sync with Bermuda’s tourism brand. They will make the hotel much less attractive-not only do they ruin the surroundings and put enormous strain on the area with more traffic and infrastructure needs, but tourists and locals will have to endure 20 years of construction headache. How is this going to fix our tourism product? Instead we will become Miami Beach, Acapulco, basically everywhere else. The Bermuda brand is why people come here and pay what they do. This significant overdevelopment and exploitation of the pristine ground around Bermuda’s premier hotel will damage that irreparably.
There is no way a full refurbishment of the hotel, to “best in the world” standard according to Mr. Maybury, be done within the estimated costs. Not even with several thousand Chinese workers to do the job. Mr. Maybury is a very smart real estate developer, and the Government on behalf of all taxpayers has been taken for a sucker to give the duty and tax breaks for the residential portion of this SDO. Breaks for the Hotel OK but not residential. Pity those who will have to explain to their children and grandchildren why they pay exorbitant taxes but the wealthy homes owners don’t.
Think the economy is bad now, just wait a few years.
A “full refurbishment of the hotel, to “best in the world” standard” is not going to happen in Bermuda. Go to the Middle East or Australia and you will see what that looks like. There is nothing in Bermuda that even comes close.
We do not try to be “best in the world” standard. We have our own identity and our own charm. That is what sets us apart from places like The Bahamas.
I don’t think anyone is against the refurbishment of south p. People are against building on open green space plain and simple. So build what you want on the dedicated Res 1 or 2 building lots and keep the green space golf coarse as is. People on this island have built condos on once farmland, retaining walls on coastal reserve etc etc and have destroyed our natural beauty for greed. Plus government is allowing tax breaks to your multimillion dollar company which can most likely afford it anyway, boosting your profits. But we peasants don’t get breaks.
I am still not understanding how building a massive, mostly-residential development up at the Fairmont Southampton site will contribute to Bermuda’s tourism product… let alone improving or reviving it. We are told that 114 of the 261 additional units being proposed up there are classified as tourism units, a classification that will qualify them for those all important tax concessions. The truth is that those units will be for sale and the owners will be ‘given the option’ to give their rooms to the hotel for use for tourists. They do not have to take up that option, mind you. Like at Tucker’s Point… we know of at least one ‘tourism’ block where the owners stated that they do not give their units back to the hotel for rent to tourists because they like the privacy of their block being strictly residential. So, those units cannot be counted as ‘tourism’ units unless and until the owners sign-up under a binding contract.
What was done down at Tucker’s Point and what Gencom wants to do at Fairmont Southampton is not going to be the magic bullet for Bermuda’s tourism. What it will do is put another nail in the coffin of that tourism offering by cramming a lot of residential development into that iconic site. The sense is that Bermuda’s tourism product is seriously out-dated, does not offer value for money and needs comprehensive reform if we have ANY hope of considering tourism a legitimate pillar of our economy going forward. It’s time we start being honest with ourselves… the emperor has no clothes. Continuing to say that Bermuda is a world-class destination in any way is simply untrue, I’m sorry to say.
The point, Kim, is that by building and selling the new units, Gencom is only risking the profit from those sales in refurbishing the 50 year old Southampton Princess, it is not risking its own earned income.
Of course, if those units do not sell, there is no profit to use to refurbish the 50 year old Southampton Princess and acres of land will have been needlessly covered in 6 story apartment blocks.
Um , I believe that Gencom has clearly stated that the hotel will be refurbished and opened first and after that the 6 story atrocities will be built ‘as the orders come in’.
Dear Mr. Chris Maybury,
What stops this from becoming another Morgan’s Point fiasco? You and Brian Duperreault look like twins!!
Well said, but breathtakingly patronising. We get it. Gencom has the government and Bermuda over a barrel. We know that no-one in their right mind would develop a hotel in Bermuda given its unions and government, without an opportunity to recoup a relatively quick return on a real estate deal. We get that. We need this development badly.
THere’s a huge trust deficit however. It’s amateur hour. It was obvious, given the scale and publicity about this project that there would be significant objection. The SDO was submitted with incorrect drawings, lack of detail about land use, and it has resulted in an avalanche of corrections, new drawings, and media releases to “correct the narrative”. A wholly amateur production that provides no confidence that Gencom and its partners in Cabinet will actually complete the project on time and on budget. Given the PLP’s well documented history of capital project failure over the last quarter century, including but not limited to budget overruns, poor quality work and fraud, there needs to be a full audit of finances before any SDO is approved.
There is no confidence that what is presented is achievable, that subsequent amendments and changes will not appear, and that the taxpayer’s obligations will not increase.
And that’s before we talk about the environmental issues. Give Gencom Morgan’s Point and let them get on with it.
In a Letter to the Editor, Robert Landau makes the following very sensible suggestion re foreign ownership of Bermuda’s hotels:
“Foreign investors who acquire hotel or commercial properties should be required to redevelop them within a short time frame. Otherwise, the properties should attract a significant annual land tax, which is actually levied in many other parts of the world
“Gencom acquired the Southampton property some time ago at a price that it considered a good investment. It was never part of its justification for purchasing the old hotel and golf course that it should be bailed out with further significant financial support or new valuable development rights through yet another special development order, which it is now demanding. Let us not forget that Curtis Dickinson resigned as Minister of Finance as a matter of principle over this matter one year ago.
“Gencom has zero interest in the Bermuda environment. Its interest is solely as a foreign investor — out to make money.
“There is a similar situation with the Elbow Beach property, which has also remained undeveloped for years and where the elegant townhouses that tumble down to the beach — not six storeys, by the way — were until recently inhabited by squatters! The present owners may be rich enough to leave the hotel abandoned indefinitely, but how does that help Bermudian tourism? At the very least, tax them in the meantime.
“A significant annual land tax on these large, undeveloped properties would force their owners to either do something with them in the interest of tourism or resell them to others who would do what Bermuda needs right now.
“SDOs never seem to be enough incentive; nor are gambling licences. Now, Gencom is holding Bermuda to ransom for loan guarantees and endless development rights that are unavailable to other Bermudian investors.”
How can Bermudians trust a company that FAILED to pay redundancy to hundreds of staff and got away without punishment. Has the BIU forgotten that? I am sure their members who worked at the hotel haven’t. Remember than Donald Trump is a developer….
let us not complain to much and try to make it work.
Make what work? We do not know what the final SDO will look like.
I am also concerned that the tax breaks being considered will foist a huge tax bill on my grandchildren long after I am gone.
As things stand, this looks like more instant gratification with no proper consideration being given to the long-term impact of any final decision.