Bahamas building boom raises concerns

But McCrory, a Fort Lauderdale lawyer turned developer, and his partners, including builder Bob Moss and South Florida boat show promoter Kaye Pearson, know Chub needs a facelift. Aside from the 69 tin-roofed bungalows that will fetch more than $1 million each, they're building a clubhouse with winding staircases and a lagoon-shaped pool to go with a marina that opened June 15.

Chub Cay Club is one of dozens of U.S. real estate projects planned for the chain of 700 islands that make up the Bahamas. A government looking to put an anchor resort on virtually every major island lured developers, including several with ties to South Florida.

While some people oppose the development plans, Bahamian leaders, who have approved $11.6 billion in foreign investments in the past four years, are fond of saying they've replaced red tape with red carpet to help drive the most ambitious economic expansion in the nation's history.

Natives and others acknowledge the massive growth is critical to the Bahamas' future, but some are concerned about what it will do to the environment. What's more, they think the government isn't properly policing foreign developers, allowing them to make millions while taking advantage of the nation and its people. "There is some concern that the country is being given away," said Pat Strachan, immediate past president of the Bahamas Real Estate Association.

"Total foolishness," countered Vincent Peet, the Bahamian minister of financial services and investments.

Luxury resorts

Kerzner International Ltd., the heavyweight developer with a regional office in Plantation, built the Caribbean's largest resort, Atlantis, which opened on Paradise Island in two phases in 1994 and 1998. Now it's developing 600 hotel suites and 495 condominium hotel units near Atlantis. The $1 billion expansion is expected to open next year.

The Ginn Co., a real estate powerhouse based near Orlando with offices in Martin County, also is jumping on the Bahamas bandwagon.

Its $4.9 billion Versailles sur Mer on the west end of Grand Bahama Island will feature 4,400 condo and hotel units, 1,800 single-family homes, two large marinas, a casino, a beach club and spa. It'll take a couple years for the first buildings to be ready, and the entire project will be more than a decade in the making.

Palm Beach County rancher Billy Bowman, known for his Republican money-raising barbecues, is planning luxury homes, a boutique hotel and a marina on Cat Island.

Meanwhile, an affiliate of the Dallas-based Staubach Co. partnered with Fort Lauderdale real estate executive Bob Dwors to buy the 480-acre Royal Island, near Eleuthera. The company, headed by legendary Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach, plans a luxury resort that will take five to eight years to complete.

Developers proudly tout their projects as vacation hotspots that will bring deep-pocketed Baby Boomers to the nation's soft-sand beaches, bolstering the Bahamian economy with thousands of jobs. "The Bahamas has become a very hot item," Dwors said. "It just feels like it's coming of age."

But not everyone is thrilled. Some concede the huge projects are the price of progress for this nation of 325,000 people. Still, Bahamians fear there are looming repercussions.

A Colorado environmental group, Global Response, claims the Bimini Bay Resort & Casino will destroy mangroves that help protect marine life. The $850 million project, which includes a hotel managed by Hilton, is being built by a group headed by Miami-based developer Gerardo Capo. His extended family runs the El Dorado Furniture chain in Hialeah.

Global Response organized a letter-writing campaign, asking Hilton to withdraw in efforts to jeopardize the project. The hotel giant is not expected to pull out but said it's working with environmental consultants.

The developers and the government defend their environmental records.

Rafael Reyes, president of the Bimini resort project for Capo, said the developer is following the recommendations of Hilton's consultants, who determined that not all mangroves need to be preserved.

McCrory said he and his partners haven't removed any mangroves and helped rid Chub Cay of an old dump. The group's goal is to maintain the island's rich history while improving its amenities.

"A lot of islands are just islands, but Chub is different," McCrory, 64, said after a recent tour. "It has a legacy. All we have to do is not screw it up."

Peet, the Bahamian official, said every approved development project has the blessing of The Bahamas Environment, Science and Technology Commission. The panel consists of officials from government agencies who turn down proposals if they don't meet strict environmental standards, Peet said. "There is no automatic stamp in the Bahamas," he said from his Nassau office overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

Bahamian worries

Clothing store merchant Reginald Munroe, 45, a Bahamian native, expresses another common concern: This tiny nation can't handle that magnitude of development.

"I just want to make sure [the government] doesn't sell out the homeland," he said, sitting beside racks of colorful coats and dresses in his downtown Nassau shop. "Ten years from now, is there going to be any waterfront property for Bahamians to live on?"

Sam Campbell, a Cat Island native and lawyer in the Bahamas for more than 25 years, said the glitzy resorts aren't affordable for a large swath of the nation's citizens. He hopes the scores of farmers, maids and dishwashers in the Bahamas don't feel "marginalized" by all the luxury developments.

Qualified workers who deserve shots at executive positions are afraid they'll be passed over and won't get to develop their own spin-off businesses, Campbell said.

But Peet said the government requires developers to hire Bahamians for management jobs, pointing out that natives occupy several top posts at Atlantis.

McCrory insisted his development team, Chub Cay Club Associates, is making sure Bahamians benefit from the Chub Cay. The developers say they spent $3.5 million to improve the island housing for construction workers and permanent staff members. They also have incentives in place for those who hope to become managers.

John Davies, a senior vice president for the Ginn Co., said Ginn intends to hire natives for management positions. Company officials were pleased that 3,000 people turned out for a recent job fair.

"There's no reason these young people can't get training and rise through the ranks," Davies said.

Bahamian real estate agents stand to profit from the thousands of new condos, houses and villas. But Strachan, the Bahamian real estate agent, said U.S. brokers are cheating his colleagues out of their commissions.

Only members of the Bahamas Real Estate Association are allowed by law to sell property here, but foreign developers often use their own agents, Strachan said.

He estimates Bahamian agents are losing $20 million a year and are forced to sell mostly to locals, which isn't nearly as lucrative. He doesn't know who to be more mad at -- the foreign brokers or the Bahamian government, which, he says, looks the other way.

"It's a major, major problem," Strachan said. "We're frustrated. We're being taken advantage of."

Peet acknowledges U.S. brokers are improperly making money from Bahamian land sales, mostly through Internet transactions. He said the government is concerned and trying to fix the problem.

Many Bahamians are leery of outsiders and not convinced the nation's development boom will benefit them.

"In the past, there might be an argument that supported that," Peet said. "But this government has learned from that experience.

"The Bahamian people can touch and see and feel what we have been doing."

Written by Paul Owers, he can be reached at powers@sun-sentinel.com or at 561-243-6529