Golf Inc - March/April 2009 - (Page 15) FL O R ID A Freeport B A H Nassau A Havana M A C S U B A EA S A JA M A I C HA I D OM I REP NIC A UB LI N C Punta Cana Rio Grande Anguilla T I O E RT PU IC O R CA N RIBBEA interested in designing a course in Cuba. But spokesman Martin Forsyth said that Faldo Enterprises is not now doing any other projects in the Caribbean other than Roco Ki in the Dominican Republic. St. Kitts St. Lucia Slowdown in the Caribbean Elsewhere in the Caribbean, the main challenge is that second-home sales have slowed down considerably, said Gregory Cory, senior vice president with Economic Research Associates in San Francisco. That could affect future plans in Cuba as well. “You have to have significant real estate to make everything work in the Caribbean,” Cory said. “The course doesn’t get much play, so you need high fees to pay for it. It’s the same with hotels. They’re very expensive to develop. You can’t charge enough to recover the construction cost. So real estate becomes a necessity for the projects.” Several Caribbean projects have suffered recent delays because developers are seeking recapitalization, including Montage Royal Island in the Bahamas, where a Jack Nicklaus course was set to begin construction in April. The project, being developed by Cypress Equities, has gone through a first phase of sales of villas and custom home sites successfully, however, according to a press representative, Joe Enos, senior account director and marketing counsel for Sheila Donnelly. Enos said the developers expect to open on schedule in 2011. And he noted that there is easy air access from the Northeast and central United States to the Royal Island area, another key to success in the Caribbean. “There are a lot of good projects in the Caribbean that have been going on for two and three years, and they will eventually go ahead. But some may go on to a second or third owner,” said Tim Kenny, executive vice president of business development for Nicklaus Design, in commenting about Officials recently broke ground on a new Tom Fazio-designed course at Christophe Harbour on St. Kitts PHOTO (TOP RIGHT) © CHRISTOPHE HARBOUR The Bahia Beach Resort and Golf Club is attracting private-club members to Puerto Rico March/April 2009 www.GolfIncMagazine.com 15 http://www.GolfIncMagazine.com
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