US$120 Million Hotel Project Breaks Ground in Nassau
Date: May 2018
Location: The eastern end of Goodman’s Bay Beach, Nassau, Bahamas
Name: The “GoldWynn” project
The groundbreaking ceremony in Nassau.
No. of Keys: 90, twenty-five of which will be condominium units, along with 64 residences.
Developer: The project is the brainchild of Paul Wynn of the Wynn Group of Companies investment and development firm.
It will be managed by Small Luxury Hotels…there was some discussions about Kimpton being in the frame, but SLH won!
Construction is slated to begin in July 2018, and is scheduled for completion in December 2020.
The project includes a mix of private residences and a condo-hotel, with amenities like a beachfront infinity pool, seaside dining, a theater, a spa, a tennis club, a “social house and gallery” and a rooftop terrace and pool.
“I note that the developers are committed to a beautification plan for Goodman’s Bay, a favourite beach, recreation and exercise park for Bahamians and residents,” said Bahamas Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis, who was on hand for the groundbreaking this week.
Minnis said the project would “help to further transform Cable Beach.”
On a separate note, this week (May 2018) Paul Wynn said that he hopes to finalise negotiations to purchase the Grand Lucayan hotel complex in Grand Bahama by summer, the Nassau Guardian reported.
“My hope is sometime this summer, but I just don’t know at this given point,” he told The Nassau Guardian. “But we are very, very close.”
The Canadian based Wynn Group signed a letter of intent with Hong-Kong based conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa for the sale of the Grand Lucayan last December.
Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis said the approval stage and formal discussions with the Wynn Group would be finished by February 2018, but there has been no communication on the status of the sale.
During the formal groundbreaking of the Wynn Group’s Residences at GoldWynn – a hotel-condo development on New Providence – Wynn indicated that his company and the government were very close to finalising the deal.
Following the ceremony, The Guardian pressed Wynn about the negotiations.
“It is very, very complex,” he said. “It is a very, very difficult project. I think we are almost at the finish line now. It has been very hard. The government has been absolutely fantastic in trying to get the Grand Lucayan open and get people working.”
The reopening of the resort is expected to revive inventory of 1,000 hotel rooms and provide jobs to nearly 1,000 people.
The currently closed Grand Lucayan Resort
THPT Comment: The project is the latest in a wave that includes the recently-announced Margaritaville – Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville brand is opening its first property in Nassau, with plans for a $250 million, six-acre development centred at The Pointe, a mixed-use development in the heart of downtown Nassau.
Already under construction, the property will feature a 150-room Margaritaville Beach Resort (15 hotels across the southern USA and the Caribbean), along with 150 luxury oceanfront residences, 100 of which will be branded One Particular Harbour at The Pointe.
Margaritaville Holdings’ newest project will also include a marina, a water park, a spa, an entertainment center, signature Margaritaville food and beverage concepts, retail shops and a kids’ club.
….and the recently-completed Baha Mar project, which debuted its Rosewood 237 rooms, suites & villas Hotel this week.
Another $250 million project was recently announced for the Hurricane Hole marina site on nearby Paradise Island, with a new mixed-use project which will include a transformed marina, residences, retail restaurants, office space and yachting services, according to a government statement.
The planned Margaritaville in Nassau.
First Seen: Caribbean Journal