Bobby Ginn’s $3.7 Billion Ginn Sur Mer Project in the Bahamas is Ahead of Schedule

Bobby Ginn hosted a press tour on Thursday.

February 1, 2008 – Palm Coast, FL – Amid an anemic domestic market and news of other developers facing financial crisis, Ginn Resorts presses on with their Ginn Sur Mer project at West End, Grand Bahama. The company released details on the project’s progress at a press tour on Thursday. Bobby Ginn and John Davies, senior vice president of development offered their comments.

When built out, Ginn Sur Mer will include 4,400 condominium and hotel units, centered on a 20-story tower, 870 single family residences, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer signature golf courses, two large marinas able to handle mega-yachts, a casino, swimming pools and water park facilities, a beach club, salon and spa, restaurants, shops, and a private airport featuring a 5,500 foot runway and on-site customs. Sales are benefiting from favorable foreign exchange rates and the increased interest in the Bahamas.  (site map)

• Of the $3.7 billion budgeted for the project, the developer has spent about $150 million.
• About 70% of the 2,000-acre site has been cleared over the past two years.
• Ginn Sur Mer should be operational in five years in its core facility with amenities and real estate sales continuing to go on for years. Construction of 375 units is expected to begin in early summer of this year.
• In many places, elevations were increased by up to ten feet, using fill from canals dug throughout the site. Canals are being constructed much deeper than necessary for boating traffic in order to obtain the added fill.
• The several thousand acre site, contaminated in some spots by a former developer, will be properly drained and filled back in. Wetlands will be restored and environmental debris cleaned up.

“The first vertical construction you are going to see are the condominiums, the bungalows at the core,” said Davis. “Later next year, you’ll start to see our residences being built. It’s going to be about nine months to a year to get all the utilities and the roads into where people can start building on the lots. We’ve sold well over 200 lots at this point and we have a lot of people who want to start building right now.”

When discussing the company’s commitment to the growth and development of the West End, Grand Bahamas economy, Bobby Ginn said, “There is a trickle down effect. Thousands of units in this property will be sold to people who are going to take possession of not only the piece of property they’ve got but also the community they’ve got, and the effect of that is a lot of jobs.”

The project currently employs 230 Bahamians. At the peak of construction, this number is expected to grow to 3,700. More than 4,000 permanent jobs will be created.

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