Developer snubs Beach Bay residents
(CNS): The residents of Beach Bay say they have lost all confidence in the developer proposing to build a huge resort in the heart of their community after he snubbed their invitation to a meeting in favour of a tête-à-tête with Cabinet ministers. Around 40 people showed up at the Savannah Primary School hall on Tuesday for a pre-arranged meeting with Ryan Melkonian, one of the investors who had agreed to address their questions and concerns, but Melkonian was a no-show for the second time. The angry residents learned as they waited for him to show up that he was hosting a small private meeting for Tourism Minister Moses Kirkconnell, Planning Minister Joey Hew and Health Minister Dwayne Seymour.
Melkonian is the founder and managing partner of Melkonian Capital Management in New York. His firm is said to have acquired almost 70 acres of land around Beach Bay and St James Point in Bodden Town under the company name Beach Bay Lands Ltd. The group of investors has already been promised around $25 million in concessions and had roads redirected.
They have had the area re-zoned, paving the way for a ten-storey resort, which residents fear is of such a magnitude that it will impact their quiet residential neighbourhood forever. The investors have also secured a commitment from the Mandarin Oriental to manage the hotel once it is built.
Concerned about the near-industrial scale project, which includes two sewage treatment plants, commercial buildings, staff residences and acres of car parking space, as well as a hotel block and condos, residents believe what was once proposed as a boutique-style small hotel has ballooned out of proportion. Furthermore, they feel they are being kept in the dark about the proposals, as the developer keeps dodging the residents and their requests for a meeting.
Following the developer’s failure to show up at a meeting last month, where close to 100 residents had turned up to hear from him, a second meeting was organised with the assistance of the constituency’s MLA Chris Saunders. Melkonian had originally offered to host a small number of residents at a house he is believed to own in Beach Bay. But the residents told CNS that they rejected that idea because they they believed it was inappropriate and instead organised and confirmed a meeting with him at the school hall in Savannah.
But Melkonian appears to have proceeded with his idea of a small presentation in the private home and invited just a handful of selected individuals living in the area. However, it is understood that none of the invited residents showed up and Melkonian remained at the house with the three ministers. Meanwhile, as the residents waited for almost one hour at Savannah Primary for him to show up there, they became increasingly angry.
They said it was “utterly disrespectful” and an “insult to our entire community”. However, since being snubbed, the residents told CNS that they are now focused on organising a full campaign against the project, following dozens of objections that they believe have been filed with the planning department.
While the law only allows people living in a limited range of the project to file objections for consideration during the Central Planning Authority’s deliberations, the residents suggest that the scale and magnitude of this proposal is such that, if it went ahead, it would have a massive impact on people for beyond the 300 feet of the boundaries of the proposed project.
Saunders was unable to attend the meeting as he was overseas but Alva Suckoo, the representative for the neighbouring constituency of Newlands, said that, given the concerns the residents have, the developer really does need to host a proper public meeting.
While many residents are very concerned about the proposals, there are some who are also sceptical that it will ever go ahead and somewhat suspicious of the real motivations. Some said they believe the New York-based investors are merely prospecting and seeking to get as much as possible in terms of planning permission and concessions to enable them to flip the land they have purchased for a fat profit.
Regardless of the artist’s impression of the project, in reality there is limited beachfront, and the scale of the project seems way beyond what could be financially viable in the area. But whatever happens at the site, the residents told CNS that they are angry and frustrated with the investor’s constant ducking of meetings and his apparent refusal to set out the details of the project and answer the community’s questions.
The project has been submitted to planning but so far no date has been set for the CPA to consider the application.
Category: development, Local News
The owners have never had any intention of developing this project, for they are only pumping the value of their holding o they can dump it to make money. This is a farce and always has been a farce. I is an exposed and hostile location and totally unsuitable for a hotel resort. XXXXX CIG were sucked into this scam from day one and gave them everything they wanted. Another pump and dump scheme, when will CIG way up to these con artists.
Joey likes pretty pictures and shiny things.
When we kick them out and replace them with new blood.
Too bad there is no new blood. It is just the other old gang of boys and girls who have been around for years.
There is no way that any new beach can be added to the base of those cliffs. The current there is very strong. They would need to undertake a massive coastal works project and even then I can’t see it working. I’m not against development but this is a monstrosity as well.
Think about the future. Why would any tourist want to come to a concrete jungle. You might make money now but what are you leaving for your children and grandchildren. They will never be able to afford a home here.
Its a done deal folks. McKeevas rep (Dwayne), Dart’s rep (Joey) and Kirkconnells rep (Moses) was there
DOE should have a lot to say on this project given that there is currently a turtle nesting on this very beach.
National Conservation Law amended yesterday
No it wasn’t
I think we need to ask the question as to why Moses, Joey and Dwayne were meeting with him at his private residence knowing that people were waiting on them at the school hall? It is one thing to be snubbed by the developer but to have 3 ministers knowingly do the same thing speaks volumes.. They have no respect for the people who put them in their positions..or maybe they are just afraid to meet with the people.
Agree 100%
However…………..the same fools will vote them in again next election.
Worse to think that they came to his private residence! It looks like government ministers bowing down to the elite ???
Or collusion.
As Donald Trump would say “there is no proof of collusion”. Oh yeah.
“I’m no crook”
This has nothing to do with Trump which is a red herring comment, what is obvious is that the government doesn’t care what the people think. How many more examples does one need.
Only in that lying politician asshole all use the same M. O.
What nonsense as the honorable ministers know it was better to meet with this developer privately and discuss than to go into a hall full of uneducated ill willed people who would have scared him and risked him pulling out and we loose this wonderful development. You people need to get a life and let our leaders lead. Keep up the great work Unity team.
I beg your pardon? Have you been to Beach Bay? Have you spoken to any of these “uneducated, ill willed” people? I think you would get a bit of a surprise at the number of well educated professionals living in this area. I would suggest you keep your comments to yourself until you know what you are talking about.
If you are such a well educated professional then you would know better than to spout nonsense about or leaders who are doing there best for Cayman and a willing developer who is putting up big money to make this area way better than it currently is. I suggest you just go off somewhere else!
12.30, people like you always make me chuckle.
“Their” not “there”, if you lived in Beach Bay, perhaps the fresh air would have stimulated your brain to know the difference.
Hosting government officials in this way breaks every ethics code there is. For government and the foreign property developer.
9:53 Banana Republic of the Cayman Islands? This is the same c*** that went on for years in TCI and look what happened there.
They have zero accountability to the people they are suppose to serve.
You can always count on CNS readers to be emotional, envious self centered ungrateful anti-development and ignorant of basic principles of national economics.
Unless the economic development means the cash going in
THEIR pockets _of course_
I think they are getting upset with monster developments on their doorsteps which will have an enormous detriment to their lives and forever change the peace and tranquility of their surrounding.
Yes. Including Monster projects like removing dead sea rocks from the beach…..everything is a controversy.
You are as moronic as your words, I have no interest in the development, I don’t live in the district nor will I work/live at it once it’s done but this is the same run-a-muck over development that has all but destroyed SMB for locals and will destroy ever last piece of untouched nature and beauty in Cayman because morons like you would rather see concrete and steel than sand and trees.
Well said. Thank you. But moron seems like a strong word and name calling. Ignorant is the word your looking for I believe. The person is ignorant.
I think it was ignorant moron they were going for.
Guess Secretary of State Tillerson should not have called President Trump a moron. A strong word. But maybe an appropriate word. Ignorant might have been a good word to use too.
He just keeps punching your buttons doesn’t he ?
Yes he does and will continue until he is in his grave….and then his moronic children will take over the helm. Stable genius turds, one and all.
Ummm no. In that instance the word was used properly.
Well people this is a prime example of the norm that is now business in Cayman. Screw the people, we’re now officially insignificant in the order of things. It’s been a long time coming but it’s here. Liquor up the right people and culture, heritage and #Caymankind becomes the coaster for the next gin and tonic.
#noconfidence
#notmyCIG
#takebackourisland
#nomoredevelopement
They don’t need the public input the one’s that count got their $$$$$ a while back! Big Wheels and BiG Deals PPM now Unified against Cayman PUAC Poor unnnah They even guaranteed the road through people land without their permission!
These guys are just like DART they just want to take over our land and throw the locals out.
they are nothing like dart. dart builds world class develoments and empolys thousands of locals.
try harder with your anti-dart nonsense.
Dart employs locals?………. oh, yes….. the CIG folk!
You’re weird
He’s funny. Want me to explain the joke?
Plus, they are responsible for far, far less pollution world wide than your dear mister dart.
Typical NEW YORK manners; the man has CLASS…..ALL [LOW] BUT! CLASS.
Similar to the present occupant of the White House.
Isn’t it a restaurant these days?
10:11, Please show respect for “a stable genius” and the greatest President in the history of the world.
You guys make me laugh.
I like your witty sarcasm!
Pluss, he am a gud speler.
There is a reason the Bobby Thompson road is still only one lane, it is called a court injunction, watch this project end up the same way.
In all my years living in beach bay and for all the development that has taken place where notice was required, I have always received a registered letter .., except this time, why?
The developer need to provide evidence of notice, and planning should require this before proceeding. Let’s all band together and send this for judicial review, I bet he won’t snub the judge by not coming to court.
People from Savannah to BT use that beach, and more besides. We’re all affected and should have a say in this.
Ryan Melkonian is ‘milking the cow’. He can’t be bothered by mosquitoes (the locals) when he has 3 teats (our so-called Ministers) that he can pull on and get what he’s looking for.
Time to wake up and realise that this Unity government is all about ‘selling Cayman’ to the wealthy; not about making Caymanians better off.
McKeeva Bush literally said as much in his interview in Jamaica. He said he wanted Cayman to be a place where the rich come to play. Here is the proof. Disregard the ordinary folks in favour of the rich ones. This government is appalling.
Every where on earth where “the rich come to play” has never ended well for the common folk there. They become the slaves and servants of the rich working for just enough scraps to hopefully get by while a select few are invited to play with the wealthy.
Wait until the Mandarin people realize that beach is fake.
What evidence is there that Mandarin have actually committed – is it not a case of them expressing interest in running it IF its built? Now being spun as a guaranteed Mandarin branded property? I bet you that Melkonian Capital are showing significant enhancements in their carrying value for the land though, based on that, the concessions and the government support. People need to realise there are ways developers make money short of actually building out a development.
Cayman Islands government, it’s the best government money can buy.
World class!
25 millions of dollars in concessions and people are losing their homes and jobs and children going hungry!!! It’s time for the government to come to the people of these islands before they give away our money.
will somebody please think of the children!!!
Like their parents, for a start.
No. Like you, bubba.
Why? What have the kids done for me?
I love it. Moan that no one ever invests anywhere other than SMB then when someone tries moan some more.
NIMBYs….
Err, maybe it’s not the same people. But way to get your comment out there.
beach bay hotel….one of the many cayman pie in the sky projects when have been hearing about for years.
Who is the architect of this Jetson’s looking development?
Andy Gibb
Love The Bee Gees.
Staying alive Tragedy or i started a joke?
Great mining disaster of 2019
And their cousin
So you think the National Trust will have any objections to the required environmental destruction?
Doesn’t matter as NT not an adjoining landowner. The Planning Law got changed decades ago (right after Ritz IIRC) to stop the NT or anyone else (not an adjoining landowner) objecting to environmental destruction.
Check out yesterdays agenda, minutes on line for CPA and scroll down and see amendments for The National Conservation Law, check out Chairman and then get back to me
Gibb is just the “local ” for work done overseas. Somebody has to carry the drawings to planning.
25 million in concessions is not needed for a project like that.
25 million is needed for education and healthcare.
But politicians dont care. They all have a private stake in this.
You caymanians deserve this treatment, because you seem more focussed on the gays that are coming and your stupid churches.
Wake up, you are being sold out…
Whilst I agree, I feel the need to point out that government is not paying $25mm to the developer. The $25mm doesn’t exist. But it would if all fees were paid and developer proceeded with project. But project may not be feasible with all thos fees up front so concessions are being sought. My thought is that give them the concessions, but more in the form of a loan or delayed payment plan. Let the projects like this proceed but make the developers pay back most, if not all, of the concessions over time. Then the $25mm would eventually exist. Problem is, developers are very convincing/threatening and say no concessions, no development, and they argue government will get compensation in the form of stay over fees and revenue. However, there is no guarantee of that if the project fails. I say that the government needs to grow a spine, call the bluff on the developers. I suspect most will still proceed, maybe with some lesser concessions. If they don’t want to proceed, sell the land, move on and let someone else give it a go with a different business model.
Think Amazon and New York. Same principal.
Another ‘Ryan’ comes to your shores with promises galore (only to sell out while still owing government monies, do you all remember that Ryan?).
This “investment” is being sold to investors with all the trimmings and keywords and glossy advertising you can think of and more to come I’m sure of it.
Investors are being told to buy, buy, buy while it’s hot and priced to sell and the sky’s the limit on your investment. But if that plan doesn’t come to fruition in a timely manner, there’s always the hope that investors (the biggest winner being Melkonian Capital Management) will gain great returns because Ryan M. and crew dangle the Dart cassava in front of their faces, saying “it’s a win-win situation no matter how it’s sliced. Here, take a bite. Delicious cake, no?” mmmmmm
There has been talk about a “development” in Beach Bay for decades!!!! For these people to cry fowl, is totally ridiculous. Every one of them moved there, and changed the surroundings for their neighbors who were there before them. Make room, the resort is coming and that’s a good thing!!! Besides, Beach Bay ain’t that nice. Should be glad to have such an investment come in there!!!!
All the signs here indicate a farce. They tried to impress the government three years ago by dumping marl in the mangrove and calling it a road. Go see it, you best have four wheel drive. Maybe NRA can now install a pedestrian crossing.
Looking on the bright side of life, it is not all bad news, it does help the iguana cullers more access to the interior.
There is another 5 letter word that starts with F that comes to mind – cheap land acquired, then revalued based on concessions and changes in planning permission and blue sky promises – all funded by someone other than the promoter.
yep…i love the hypocrisy of people who have developed their land trying to stop others from developing theirs….
they usual nimby nonsense
Well perhaps you would like a sewage plant in your backyard.
Most hotels and more recent condos already do. I had one outside my window at one place I stayed. No biggie. It hums away processing ah!t. Shame we cannot install one for some of the comments on cns….
We all have sewage plants in our backyards, called Septic Tanks.
The two that are planned are as big as an Olympic swimming pool 40 ft in length with 3 manhole covers that’s an awful lot of doody !!
Berry Drive needs to be cleaned up. Too many unkempt verges ,old cars and unfinished houses . Appealing for residents to take pride in their surroundings even as they unite against this development.
Berry drive needs a dynamite renovation.
Already had that from years of illegal quarrying tolerated by Police Govt. Planning etc.
The beautification process was the next step as they have only recently started their Watch program, we have all had to put everything on hold to join forces and unite more residents to our forums to get the word out, Knocking on doors and canvassing the slip roads is more important at this point but we take your point, Thank you
Like white people, amiright?
Anonymous 6:23 pm: Who are you shilling for?
These residents are just waking up to the reality the our political leadership could care less about their concerns or representing their interest. Many within this group that are in power have always put big business interests over the interests of the people that voted for them.
Maybe they should care less then, since you seem to think they can.
I hope this is not a hedge fund investment. If it is then time for it to be fully provided for in the accounts.
Maybe they are building it with the missing CIFA money.
Ha ha very good.
If anyone is going to ruin Cayman its gunna be Dart, i dont know who this bruddah thinks he is.
5:06 simple he thinks he is money!
He thinks he is money? To some politicians, he IS money!
There should be an inquire into those MLA who attended this investors private residence to discuss such a matter.
Look all you cry babies, our leaders know that they must court the wealthy developers who are willing to spend their millions here in Cayman. Why should this man come and listen to a bunch of winging Muppets when he has important business to discuss with our leaders. All these developments are moving forward because of the foresight of the Premier and his Unity government. These developers are just waiting for CHEC to get here so they can get more reasonable construction costs. Keep up the good work Unity team and do not pay any attention to these spreaders of fake news!
Why do you think they MUST “court the wealthy”? Are you under the delusion that the wealthy care a whit about the people of the place? The wealthy get concessions from CIG that allow them to unfairly compete against existing businesses, and we allow that to happen.
That said, I think most of your rant is an attempt to stir us up for your own personal jollies. If that is true, you are a troll.
More from the winging wannabes. Get a life as development rules! Good job honorable Hew
Right on, Beaumont!!!
Stop using that ridiculous term.
Lol nice try troll, people know better nowadays bruh.
When CHEC get here the already widening divide between haves and have-nots is going to grow exponentially and sadly the lower classes and porter residents are going to be dragged down even lower. Watch and see – or go look at Nassau and Jamaica and other places CHEC has infiltrated. And once here it is like a cancer that cannot be removed. Time will tell – unless we draw the line and keep them out. Yes building and cost of living will be higher, but long term the poverty divide will be far smaller. The introduction of certain cultures has already shaken the apple cart – let’s not flip it over totally with more cheap labor…
Who cares as we can now enjoy ourselves and have a better life.
Beach Bay’s very own Ironwood. LOL.