Neon lights at FIN fuel social media backlash
The massive neon lights being installed 
Impact of the lights shared on social media by a nearby resident 
Neon lights at FIN
(CNS): A luxury condo development on South Church Street that has been controversial since it started, given the size and scale of the development, environmental issues, the impact of the development work, fee and duty waivers and what residents in the area feel is an inappropriate project for the neighbourhood, has stirred up more public backlash with the installation of neon lights. After FIN Grand Cayman recently turned on its huge neon lights, which were installed last month, residents have taken to social media to express their outrage about the lighting, which objectors say are an eyesore.
Some are describing the lights, which stretch higher than the front of the five-storey building, as more akin to the lighting for a Las Vegas strip club than a luxury residence on Caribbean island in a quiet neighbourhood. For some residents, the neon lights are so bright they are now shining into their homes and causing serious light pollution.
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Category: development, Local News
Fin Cayman will be a luxury casino.
Fin will have to do something with all the empty condos.
I guess all the condos were sold sight unseen.
I can’t work out which is worse. The overlit casino entrance or the parking lot facing the sea.
Awful
Blinking fluorecent tubes would be my concern. The lifespan of fluorecent tubes is significantly reduced in a humid climate. The tubes look like they are custom made. Are there spare tubes? Could LED lighting be used to replace any of the blinking flourecent tubes?
BEWARE CAYMAN BRAC AND LITTLE CAYMAN!
Intrusive eyesores like this are in your future if you are not not mindful and pro-active in ensuring the DCB is every on board with preserving the beauty, soothing ambience, and tranquility of your islands. The same idiots who have turned Grand Into a laughable and poorly planned parody of Miami are fully capable of messing up the rest of the country.
I looked at the sales material many months ago and didn’t see this neon monument. Is the developer the same one who surprised the Ritz penthouse buyers by putting extra floors above them after they had thought they bought the top floor? Or was that another developer?
I have been shopping online for a beach property, around $1.5 to $2.0 million and am at a loss. I really was willing to look at the South Church area but after seeing this offering I must say that it’s a bit out of the character I was looking for in a Caribbean island. The erosion along Seven Mile Beach is a concern too. I’d rather not go to the east end because I would be too far from the airport and expect to be flying in and out 2-3 times a month. Cayman developers have really changed the landscape, literally. I expect that I will need to look elsewhere, sadly, as Cayman is by far my first choice for many reasons.
https://youtu.be/DuDk2L8AspA
Reminds me of the Kenny Rogers Roasters Seinfeld episode “I can’t get any sleep with that neon light shining in my window all night”!
Too funny. Those who live in trash commenting on how a building that they will never be able to afford living in looks to them.
Takes trash to know what it looks like. Get over your self-inflated ego and braggadocious talk that you would never have anywhere else or dare to speak in any other place.
spoken like a true classist. Cayman doesn’t need your attitude.
I don’t live in trash. I got a nice house that’s Not an eyesore.
To your plebian tastes it’s probably not an eyesore.
Plebeian is a big word, maybe you should learn how to spell it. ha.
I for one, can afford to live there & think the building is as ugly as sin. Perhaps that expression should change to “as ugly as Fin”?? LOL
OMG! LOL. Duuude! You really need to take a course on how not to make trolling so obvious. Relax, people, troll noted.
8:46 am I bet you sorrowful son or daughter of an amphibious reptile wouldn’t say that to my face . I gonna give you a chance to do so though meet me at the graveyard at 11:30 PM, you won’t miss me as I will be in full Black as opposed to you kluklux klan surrogate you. September 11th don’t be late.
As bad as this building is from the roadside, it’s worse on the sea side. It looks very much like a Cuban housing project built by the Soviets.
The people of Cayman have lost control of their gov’t whom they elect long ago. No matter what we say, no matter how much we disapprove or protest against certain developments, they still keep on building while derelict properties remain for years without planning addressing them ie Hyatt, building at Butterfield roundabout, building on Eastern Ave etc. Before this goes any further, we need a serious review regarding zoning and what should be allowed and not allowed as neighbourhoods are be effected all over the Island including the sister Islands.
I’d give it a month before one of those neon lights starts blinking. More shabby diner than luxury .
Wait until the spotlights on the roof start bouncing off the clouds Fox Searchlight fashion! CNS: interview the developers and ask if they’re proud of this building. Interview some owners for comments.
The most pretensious, ugly, nasty, out-of-place, 1930s art deco building on the island. A complete eyesore. A blot on the landscape. The developers and planning should be totally ashamed of themselves, and those who have purchased apartments should be embarrassed. What on earth is this island coming to?
I wonder how people residing in this luxury condo could sleep at night?
We are supposed to sleep in total darkness, stars in the sky and campfires are fine-they don’t mess with circadian rhythms.
As if toxic pollution from the Dump, mosquito control and noise is not enough on this god forsaken island, let add light pollution. No wonder cancer rates,I suspect, through the roof.
To mitigate at least to some degree, detrimental effects of the pollution, 8 hours on uninterrupted sleep is a MUST. Now even that is a challenge. Beach is gone as well.
I have a share that I can’t sell, will probably endup taking a loss and forgetting for good this island of disease, insanity, incompetence and extremely overpaid extremely dumb politicians.
Very sad, what this tropical jewel has turned into.
Circadian rhythm disruption and mental health
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-020-0694-0
Circadian rhythm disruption may accelerate aging, drive cardiometabolic disease.
https://www.healio.com/news/endocrinology/20200914/circadian-rhythm-disruption-may-accelerate-aging-drive-cardiometabolic-disease
If you take a concrete block, paint it white and add plastic shiney strips it still looks like a Soviet government building from the 1950s. If you add very bright lights it is still a Soviet government building but you just can’t see it.
There’s a lot of Soviet era buildings like that in Cuba. Convert the eyesore into a giant mosquito zapper.
I CANNOT believe how corrupt your island CONTINUES to be. Anything AND EVERYONE is for sale, or, can be greased. Sad. You will never be environmental conscious with this crap, and you will never allow your younger generation to get ahead. Listen, I live in the US and I know what corrupt looks like, and I also know what it looks like when the majority roles over, allows it to happen for too long, and then it becomes the norm. THAT HAS ALREADY HAPPENED in Cayman.
👍👍👍
Maybe we can just hope that the eventual strata committee may have some members with a sense of taste and they’ll vote to remove that light fixture. Or maybe that’s too much to hope from a bunch of wealthy people who actually bought a place there in the first place.
Given that those members bought into that monument to appalling taste, that is highly unlikley.
Imagine what it will be like at Christmas.
It is one of few buildings in Cayman that is actually offensive.
About as garish as the Twins’ around Christmas?
None of the buyers will ever actually see the place. Projects like this aren’t for living in. They are for parking undeclared funds.
I cannot believe anyone has taken the time to comment on this. Somebody is PLAYING YOU!!! I mean I know it’s not April 1 but…
All I can do is laugh and shake my head at this point.
You can’t believe anyone has the time (inclination?) to comment on one of the most controversial, environmental and aesthetic eyesore developments we have seen here in this history of Cayman? Why, explain your reasons – what do you know that we don’t?
You’re a smug fo fo
LMAO This is actually hilarious. Planning has allowed it. Not sure why you are angry at anyone else.
If I saw the plans with an interest to purchase, this would have made me laugh in their faces as I went to check out the Tides, Oceana or Seaview. This is hilariously tacky. I genuinely cannot believe Planning actually approved it. Someone is laughing at you people…
You know, I get that Art Deco isn’t everybody’s thing, but to call this tacky is a matter of personal opinion from someone who probably knows little about architecture and art. You put this building in South Beach, just the way it is, and it probably wins architectural awards and is featured in magazines. But is very misplaced here, put there it is on South Church Street, almost on top of the road. This is architecture that better looked at from a distance and while it really doesn’t fit Cayman, would be better placed on Seven Mile Beach if someone really wanted to do Cayman’s first Art Deco building. Art Deco isn’t one of my personal favourites, but I do find the lines and details of this building interesting and not the same old boring condo development.
The Cayman Islands are in desperate need of strict exterior guidelines for architecture akin to the likes of Bermuda. Modern architecture needs to be done in communities designated for it with sparse approval. In 20 years there will be no more Island style and the majority of homes and developments will all be flat top outdated “modern” structures.
Im aware that in certain seaside towns in the US (Nantucket, Hamptons etc), neon lighting is forbidden, even on commercial buildings because they need to protect the atmosphere of the town, the quaint and charming architecture is part of their tourism product. We need to do the same but it might be too late.
I sort of agree with this… to a degree. I don’t really think legislating style is that important. Plenty of modern homes look nice. Part of the problem with the FIN development is that it’s way too big and it looms over the road. That should never have been allowed. But I’m not sure I want the government telling me what my house has to look like.
Think of it this way: Should you have to gaze across the road at an atrocity? A glaring nightmare at night that burns through your blinds? Should you have to endure pounding soundwaves of music that rattle your windows?
These two issues must be addressed. We need measurable standards; otherwise, we cannot cause things to be changed. We need a decibel measurement and and a luminance, be that in nits, lumens or lux. Whatever those numbers are, they should be a standard which disallows any entity, business or home from being a ‘nuisance’.
Methinks that you would backtrack that in a heartbeat if the house across the street from you suddenly sported a garish looming tower of bright neon lights.
I agree but that needed to be done 20 years ago.
The C.I. we all loved is gone now. Pity. Won’t be long before the rats start jumping ship.
Where, exactly, do you think the rats are going to go?
Higher ground elsewhere, the rich have no boundaries.
Greedy developers are stripping this island of its beauty and taking away the little we have left. But one day Mother Nature will take back what’s hers, and FIN will be FIN!
It’s so Beautiful, can just get naked and sit there in the evening like a tanning bed.
I wonder what Christmas lights they’ll put up on top of these lights!
It is not just its ugliness, monstrosity and incongruence with the environment but circadian rhythms disruption that affect mental and physical health of humans and every other life form.
Artificial light at night has negative and deadly effects on many creatures including amphibians, birds, mammals, insects and plants.
“ For billions of years, all life has relied on Earth’s predictable rhythm of day and night. It’s encoded in the DNA of all plants and animals. Humans have radically disrupted this cycle by lighting up the night.”
https://www.darksky.org/light-pollution/wildlife/
The same age old question of development for whom.of all seven mile beach conomoniums how much percentage owned by caymanians. Let us take a deep breath and decide on development for the caymanians
Half of you can’t even make it pass the gate. 🤣🤣 and stop wishing bad on other people. Karma is a bitch
Totally agree….
No one is listening to us after the event. Our trust in our leaders before the event was misplaced. They fail to represent us, and instead expect us to agree with their own agenda. So all that remains is civil disobedience. I hear there’s a shipment of masks coming here, from the V for Vendetta film set…
Well just when the Berksoy’s were winning the competition for the ugliest building in Cayman along comes Michael Ryan and Dale Crighton..
Only one thing this proves, all the money in the world can’t buy taste..
It can buy status though.
True..other than Dale that is..the PPM gave Berksoy hi status grant and until this day I can’t see one thing he has done for Cayman other than enrich himself from it..and build that monstrosity on our beautiful SMB with a PPM CPA approved seawall which has now destroyed the beach as well.
Michael Ryan, well let’s just say the UDP took great care of him, even after all of his Shenanigans after the Ritz. Again, what did/has Michael Ryan done for the people of this country?
This new Government needs to strip away the power of Cabinet to hand out status. XXXX
These people need to understand that status should be something that is earned.
It is very,very difficult if not impossible to find a Michael Ryan project that did not go bust. If the Fin Cayman project goes bust who will own the condos?
If you see some of the shirts Dale wears this makes more sense.
12:48 It can buy a superyacht.
Shame on you Dale and anyone who approved this gaudy, out of place, vile corruption. The architects should seek another profession.
Bit early for “Parade of Lights” aren’t we?
imo the building is an ugly monstrosity and even worse now with neon lights. thus is NOT miami beach
Miami Beach would be nice though. Less stipends, more flights out, casinos, better service
They finally resurfaced the road – I hope Fin paid for it. Now they should install curbstones along their sidewalk as all their condo neighbours have done. It’s built from low grade concrete and the edge is already chipped. After that they need to clear up their monstrous dump 150 yards down the road on the seafront.These people have created chaos over the last 3 years and will leave us with a concrete, chrome and neon monolith that would be the envy of a lot of the new ex Russian republics.
I believe you will find out that this road is a public road and the paving was paid for by the NRA not the developer. It is not his road.
He destroyed it, he should pay for it’s repair.
Absolutely hideous. One can only hope we have a Cat 5 hurricane in the near future that wipes that monstrosity out. Those two sh!t buildings next to the road just need some tacky 50s American pink diner lights now for full effect.
Careful what you wish for,Bobo. Trust all of us, you don’t want a Cat 5 storm at Fin.
NOBODY want’s a Cat 5. Don’t even think that. Not today Bobo.
Michael Ryan finally got his casino.
Caymanians screwing over Caymanians. Caymanians let this happen, stacked the CPA for many decades. Can’t blame furiners for this one. You make your bed now lay in it.
The CPA appears to be one of the most money-grubbing organizations I have ever heard of. Why do the people of the Cayman Islands put up with crap like this? Does no one care about the misuse of their money?
Paper Caymanians screwing Native Caymanians. Fixed that for you. Now go to sleep (try to think about the bright lights)
No one is native to cayman……
Paper, Status, whatever….Born Caymanians gave these furiners the right to do this in so many ways. The milk was spilled long time ago now mop it up along with your tears.
dale Crighton a paper Caymanian?
It’s a mosquito zapper
Too funny, It is not working if it is.
Wait until thy put up the Christmas lights, this is just the teaser.
You can’t accuse Michael Ryan of having an ounce of good taste. What on earth do the interiors look like?
Ghastly. Milady and I popped in on the old G6 and were collected for a little look see.
I must say, we shan’t be back. Thou can keepers thy gaudy brothel for thineselves.
I have a rich brother named Michael, but he isn’t stupid, and doesn’t do idiotic things like this!
Time for the neighbors to put up even brighter lights and show them who’s boss.
Seriously though you could probably light a cigarette off that thing.
Having lived on South Church Street for Twenty five years plus I cannot begin to explain how painful this type of development is and what a terrible effect developments of this kind have on our small community. Who is responsible ? I personally blame the planning department and government ministers who approved this out of place building for benefits only they will see. Can we turn back the clocks …… no this building is now here to stay …. Instead of sitting at the Seaview , blue parrot bars and enjoying sunsets , friendships and food we have turned south church street into an ugly condo complex with no amenities for the size of developments being built . Planning department where are you ? You are paid to stop this not give the green light to destruction of residential neighborhoods . I am so ashamed and disappointed in what is happening in Cayman development and fear my children will never enjoy or afford the Cayman that I was able enjoy and love . Please stop the greed and destruction of our beautiful Island.
I remember Blue Parrot. Good food, and used to project TV on to the oil tanks next door.
Dale is a decent person. I predict he will listen and the neon will be gone.
The Cayman you enjoyed was far different to the generation before. I’ll get they were ashamed you did not experience their Cayman. Just as I will bet you are glad you existed in a more modern Cayman. As will your children. Time does not stand still.
A truly idiotic response.
Love it.
South beach miami without any atmosphere, bars, dancing etc etc. build more
If you want South Beach, go to South Beach…
If you want third world….. Yep. don’t change Cayman.
Only thing third world about Grand Cayman is the grand over-population.
Shut up and suck it up, Cayman. Money talks.
Tell that to Mother Nature when she washes away your beach.
Why? At a hotel complex maybe but on the front of your home! At a hotel you are advertising but here why?
Michael Ryan doesn’t give a sh!t, he’s made a ton of cash and doesn’t live anywhere nearby. In the end what does Cayman want? The electorate gets the government it deserves. The CPA shouldn’t consist of anyone with a financial interest in development or construction.
Exactly, why complain when you keep electing fools! Elect clowns, expect the circus to come to town.
In fact, those whose Govt approved such was voted out. It’s hard for the current Govt to shut the lights down.
They will need a new EIA and human impact assessment, which might not have been properly understood.
To my understanding, the CPA in several cases allowed mobile LED billboards on roadsides some years ago but never allowed fixed ones. The FIN sign is a virtual LED billboard so ambiguities allow flex. Was there a luminosity profile submitted with the construction application? Someone on CPA clearly ruled against the spirit of the law. Ironically had FIN been next to Smith’s Cove I wonder if the former Chairman would have objected?
Don’t forget Dale Crighton too..Just as complicit.
Not the same Ryan that owned the company involved with the Ritz Carlton development that went bust owing several million dollars to CIG surely?
I was driving home from a lovely dinner last night and about wrecked my car. This is so so so inappropriate for this neighborhood. Something like shouldn’t even be on Seven Mile Beach! How could this even be allowed? There are private homes across the street. A light pollution law must be passed.
Keep your eyes on the road and not the building…. that might help. 🙂
I drove past there last night myself from dinner and the light is not that bright so let’s not try to exaggerate too much in an attempt to further to stir the pot.
Pretty certain that Blinded By the Light was referring to the shock, not the lights.
Not that bright? I could see the light from Walkers Rd when I was driving home! I turned onto Melmac & was damn near blinded! This is a residential area. Remember the stink raised about Captains Bakery on WB Rd? I’m sorry, this HAS to go. It’s obnoxious, offensive, disrespectful to those who live in the area and a dangerous distraction to road users.
What was/is the issue with Captain’s Bakery? It’s hideous, yes, and creates more traffic issues, yes….but did they have bright blinding lights too? Honestly just curious as I recently moved here.
The circus tent, big top, lit up not enough for you?? LOL Looks ridiculous. All fast food places look ridiculous here.
It is a Jamaican chain and that is how it is in Jamaica. This is not Jamaica and should not have been allowed. (Pizza Hit either!) But if you notice some of the other fast food places, they have somewhat blended. (not the ones on SMB but check the others, not too bad)
Does the Circus Big Top make you want to stop and eat there? No.
Yeah gezur, and you thought you were rich…better help your caymankind while you still can its hard.
Skip the light fandango.
LOL stupid idiot