Florida real estate company Ginn to pull the plug on housing development plan

By LEDEDRA MARCHE Senior Freeport News Reporter lededra@nasguard.com

The Ginn Company, one of Florida's leading real estate developers, reportedly has abandoned plans to construct a massive multi-million project in West End.

The project was one of the major developments expected to get underway for Grand Bahama and one of two for the western end of the island this year.

The Ginn Company had proposed to develop 2,500 acres of land over a 10-year period, propelling the construction industry in Grand Bahama.

Phase one was to include a golf course, 1,000 single-family lots, a 400-unit condo-style hotel, swimming pool, beach club marina, tennis courts and more.

Prime Minister Perry Christie told business leaders at the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce installation banquet back in January that when the project was fully completed, it would comprise a capital investment of some one billion dollars.

The prime minister initially announced the start of talks with the Ginn Company in 2003.

The Ginn Company had also agreed to a $200 million second-home development with golf courses and hotels on the eastern end of Freeport with the Grand Bahama Development Company (DEVCO).

Sources say the Ginn Company was about to sign a Heads of Agreement for the West End project the day Prime Minister Perry Christie suffered a stroke, but has since had difficulty getting the final approval from the government.

There were still outstanding issues to be resolved, according to the source; however, both parties were said to be working feverishly to resolve them and would have had them resolved by the time the Heads of Agreement was signed.

But because of inaction on the part of the government, the source said, everything was placed on hold two weeks ago, and the Ginn Group subsequently revealed they were pulling out.

"It has been one delay after another, and every time they turned around, something had been changed," the source said. "I guess they got tired of doing business that way."

Sources say the Ginn Company is now paying off all their bills and shifting their people towards other projects.

Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe, however, told The Freeport News yesterday that negotiations with the Ginn Company are continuing.

He said there will be times where there are positions of anxiety, as negotiations are intense.

Minister Wilchcombe says he is "very optimistic," adding that at the end of it all they are hoping to arrive at a point where both sides are happy.

"I enjoy working with the Ginn Group," he said, revealing that they have to make sure that certain things are in place, and the negotiators are doing that.

Efforts to reach Alton Jones, president of Ginn's Southeast Region operations, for comment proved unsuccessful up to press time.