Vision to attract a younger crowd to a resort ‘beyond our wildest dreams’

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Morgan’s Point developer Craig Christensen wants to attract younger tourists to Bermuda by building a luxury resort “beyond our wildest dreams”.

He told The Royal Gazette he believed the former base land on the Southampton and Sandys border could be turned into an attraction to compete with the Atlantis in the Bahamas, which features hotels, a spa, a casino, water park and a marina.

“I’ve been there [Atlantis] twice in recent months,” he told The Royal Gazette, during a recent exclusive interview. “I think what you can visualise is that what Atlantis did for the Bahamas, we’ve got to look at what Morgan’s Point can do for Bermuda.

“I’m not saying copy Atlantis but they have some concepts which are worthy to look at. The sizing and intensity of the development provides for the excitement of the resort.

“They do attract the age group that I think is significant, which is [the] 25 to 45-year-old market, who are spending money and use the facilities extensively.”

He cited other overseas hotels he’d recently visited and been impressed with, including Palm Beach’s Breakers and Fontainebleau and Hard Rock in Miami.

Of the latter, he said: “You go in there and it’s vibrant. The restaurants have got TVs in them, the bars are lit with lights, it’s reasonably loud, it’s visually stimulating.

“You’re creating a vision, you are creating things for the younger crowd who want that extra stimulation and that restaurant turns into a nightclub through the night. Same thing with the steak house etc.

“You can only create that vibrancy with the intensity of the development, with people there, rooftop bars, these types of things. They don’t cost a lot, we just need to figure out how to do it. That, to me, is the focus that Bermuda should be looking at: the up-and-coming vibrant crowd.”

He and fellow Morgan’s Point directors Nelson Hunt and Brian Duperreault have already said they have a $2 billion vision for the former base land, which they formally swapped with Government for the Southlands estate in Warwick at a signing ceremony at Cabinet yesterday.

“There’s interest in really trying to take Morgan’s Point and squarely put Bermuda on the map, beyond our wildest dreams,” said Mr Christensen. “Really to make Bermuda a focal point once again for tourism and put Bermuda back on the boil.”

He said the scale of the development had expanded since the public was given a glimpse of the plans in June last year and that Morgan’s Point Ltd was “reviewing” its position with overseas development partners John Ryan and Egbert Perry.

“The ultimate development partners will be primarily dependent on the requirements of the lenders,” said Mr Christensen.

He added: “I’ve got to look at things in the best interests of the project and in the best interests of Bermuda.

“In that regard, we’ve got some different visions for Morgan’s Point, in certain areas, that may be different than the original plan that we shared with Government.

“The point is really taking the development of Morgan’s Point from what we currently have, which is really good, to absolutely stunning.”

In February 2010, Government said the developers had indicated the resort was likely to be a Ritz-Carlton, due to Mr Ryan’s relationship with the five-star brand. Mr Ryan said later that year that “deep negotiations” were ongoing with three major hotel chains.

Mr Christensen said discussions continued with “hotel brands” though he wasn’t prepared to say which ones.

“It is generally unwise and not cost-effective to do that,” he said. “Like giving somebody a blank cheque, in essence.”

He said he and his partners were “absolutely” confident they could secure funding for the resort, despite the tough economic times.

“There’s a major difference that Morgan’s Point has over most of the other developments,” he said. “First of all, we are not dealing with leased land and that’s really, really tough to fund. At least with freehold land, like we’ve got, we’ve got true security [so] that people can feel comfortable in terms of lending.

“And, two, Morgan’s Point is really uniquely placed in Bermuda for a resort, which is distinctively different than your traditional resorts, which have been located primarily on beach lands in most places in the world.”

The water surrounding Morgan’s Point was its best feature, he said, making it accessible by boat to Hamilton and providing the opportunity for a world-class marina and activities such as jet skiing, sailing, snorkelling and scuba diving.

“We have the best scuba diving in the world [but] we’ve completely underutilised our water asset to our advantage from a tourism perspective.”

He added: “We’ve had interest in putting up capital. We have identified equity sources. We have equity in Morgan’s Point and we are very fortunate in that respect over, I think, other developments.”

Mr Christensen said building was unlikely to start this year as detailed plans still needed to be completed and contracted bids invited.

But he said other work could be done and he was keen to get the marina built “quickly” in order for boats to be able to dock there.

One idea he’s considering could vastly extend the resort’s tourism season, he believes. He explained: “How do we deal with keeping people warmer at night [to] extend our seasons? Wind control is probably the most critical thing and that’s a design issue.

“[We need to] harness it for protection, for people to enjoy outside, because it’s actually pretty comfortable outside in Bermuda if you find you can get out of the wind.

“How you design and get out of the wind is critical to the development of the future, in my opinion. I think you can go much longer [than May to November].

“I had lunch in Montreal in zero degrees Celsius and was comfortable sitting outside. How do you do that without using a space heater and they didn’t use a space heater. What I’m saying is, it’s totally solvable for Bermuda. It’s not necessarily expensive. You’ve got to figure out: how do you reduce your electricity costs?”

When the Morgan’s Point Act was passed in Parliament last year, the proposed development was described as including three hotels with more than 450 rooms, condominiums and residences, a par 71 golf course, a marina, retail shopping, a spa and restaurants.

Mr Christensen said all of Bermuda would benefit from the five-star facility as guests would spend money outside the resort.

“I think you have to create the intensity at the resort to begin with, without a doubt, so it can be self sufficient,” he said. “But the uniqueness of Bermuda is that when you come to Bermuda, Bermuda’s your playground, not just your resort.

“You have all-inclusive resorts but I just don’t see all-inclusive as something that we want to promote because people can get up and easily leave their resort to experience other parts of Bermuda in a relatively safe environment, unlike most places in the world. I think we’ve got a huge advantage there.

“You want to a) get it going in your resort first but b) you would love to see it get vibrant in other locations so that people can enjoy different experiences.”

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