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Tuesday, June 16, 2009

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Chub Cay mea culpa By VERNON CLEMENT JONES ~ Guardian Business Editor ~ vernon@nasguard.com: A Fort Lauderdale businessman behind the failed Chub Cay development is striking an optimistic note about a future sale for the property, his assessment coming on the heels of a $24m judgment against him and two other partners in the soured deal. "The economy in the Bahamas is driven by tourism," Bob Moss, president of the Moss & Associates construction company, told a Florida business periodical last week. "Fewer people are spending discretionary money doing those things right now. "It's not just the Bahamas, and not just Chub Cay." Still, in a news release, Moss takes personal responsibility for the project's failure, attempting to shield his own construction company as well as other partners from the brunt of any criticism surrounding the Chub Cay financing debacle as well as the $24m lawsuit it gave birth to. He also asserts that the resort should, in time and with an economic recovery, be successful. The interview is Moss's first since a judgment was handed down against him and two other investors in the project. In Moss's case, the awarding of $16 million principal and $8.2 million in interest to an affiliate of Blackacre Capital Management was in consideration of his personal guarantees for the largely incomplete project. The summary judgment was awarded in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York last week. The sum is expected to be covered by the sale of the cay, which was purchased in 2004 with much fanfare and the promise of a massive mixed-use resort development and 100-slip marina to follow. Now some five years later the only thing Moss's group of 41 community investor has to show for their efforts is 16 luxury oceanfront homes and a pool. Moss is hoping to eventually sell up the island and those few physical assets as soon as possible, although a continuing recession may stymie those plans. It was the start of the downturn in 2008 that killed sales for the project, he said in his statement last week. Chub Cay is not alone. Of the $9b in investments the current government boasts of having approved since coming to office, it remains unclear how much of that money has actually been spent, with the PM, himself, conceding that the economy has stalled or permanently scuttled projects once expected to provide hundreds of resort jobs. National unemployment is now believed to be in excess of 14 percent, although the government hasn't released new data since earlier this year. Monday, June 15,2009