One of Barbados’ prime south coast properties is up for sale.
The 93-room Savannah Hotel is being sold “via a structured offer process”, according to Terra Caribbean, the real estate company advertising the sale of the property.
“All intended parties are invited to submit their offer on or before October 23, 2019,” the company said in one of its updates.
The Savannah Hotel, which experienced several leased arrangements over the years, was one of three properties under the GEMS of Barbados portfolio, which was managed by Hotels and Resorts Limited (HRL), a government entity.
The sale of the multiple building beachfront property, which sits on approximately 3.32 acres of land, comes several years after it was reportedly leased to the Sun Group.
The other GEMS properties were Time Out at the Gap, which was sold to the Bernie Weatherhead led Sun Group for some $7.5 million a couple years ago; and the Blue Horizon hotel, which then Minister of Tourism Richard Sealy had said he was in discussions with “private sector interest” to get sold.
It was in 2010 that it was revealed that the GEMS project had gone bankrupt after accumulating debts of about $229 million, after its parent company HRL had benefited from government loans of about $145 million.
The Savannah Hotel, which sits on a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, consists of 84 standard rooms, eight suits and one junior suit, a kids club, two restaurants, a spa, beach bar and fitness centre and several conference rooms.
According to a brochure, the property was being sold with furniture, fixtures and equipment and “there is no guide price as the property is being sold via structured offer process which commenced on July 31, 2019 and will end on October 23, 2019”. (MM)
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So Savannah is being sold, was advertised by the Terra group since July, and only now revealed to the media.
This said BLP under Arthur conceptualized GEMS, pumped millions of tax payers money into the company, never made a profit, one property previously sold for for seven million, while this BLP was so critical of the selling price for Blue Horizon that they are unable to place a value on the Savannah.
Questions for the government.
1. What loans, Grants, Tax breaks were given to the GEMS group and in which years?
2.How much of the money was actually repaid?
3.Which hotels were part of the GEMS group and who were the original owners / operators?
My concern is we the people were made to endure austerity after Sandiford's blunders.
The repair work was done with much pain. Arthur had a wash of money, but much of it was wasted with no returns on much of the investment.
It got worst under the next government because they failed to go the austerity route in 2008 when it would have been less painful. Here we are now in painful austerity little less than three decades on with a cabinet constantly in reverse, secretly conducting some critical business, often placing the cart before the horse, after over promising because their focus was solely on, "winning the election at all cost".
All that I've written here, and if the questions are investigated by Barbados Today, revealing the answers. We all would see that both BLP, and DLP makes the same blunders. The timing is all that separates them, makes them look different, and Mia looking whiter than Stuart.
We the people of Barbados need the facts about the GEMS, we need accountability from those particularly who served in the last BLP cabinet and are currently elected members of the house. It can't be business as usual Barbados Today. It simply can't be, I am depending on you, as the ladies in Fontabelle have been asleep for years now.