Bahamian businessman Tom Basden has made the leap from constructing elevators to operating a boutique hotel on a private island.

On Thursday, Mr. Basden, the proprietor of the Camp Grantanna Special Projects Resort on Rose Island, took Prime Minister Perry Christie and several of his Cabinet minister on a tour of the $10 million property set to open in November.

Mr. Basden, who acquired the property several years ago, said initially he thought the island would serve as a retirement getaway for he and his family, but that idea quickly evolved into something more lucrative.

He said the resort will be earth friendly and will use solar panels and other green methods to sustain itself.

“As it evolved, it evolved from questions in my mind what are you building here…cabana for your grandchildren? But how many times a year are they going to use it? You might as well build something that will bring in returns,” Mr. Basden said. “So then I started thinking and they shot a James Bond movie out in Coral Harbour and I have a piece of beach property out there and James Bond people rented the property as one of their sites. And then the thought came to my mind – why don’t you build a site with all the amenities?”
Prime Minister Christie applauded the efforts and said this is a model that should be adopted nationwide.
“This has been a very difficult project and you can see how he has gone about and making it a green project and even though he has generators with surplus capacity he has in fact integrated in this mix solar LED lighting but all of the energy saving devices and use of energy from natural sources that again sets another standard and example for Bahamians,” the prime minister said.
Camp Grantanna will be a special projects resort which will be leased to movie productions, church groups, and other crowds.

Tourism Minister Obie Wilchombe said for years the country has struggled with finding inventory and more spots for tourists to visit, but acknowledged that this new resort is a great start.

“To build the tourism industry we require inventory and diversity with the inventory,” he said. “This will be in demand because there are many people from around the world who are looking for not the mammoth hotels but they want much more hotels such as this where they can get to a private island they can have easy access to the island and have their families and others enjoy with them. They want to have their own type of vacation so this will work.”

Camp Grantanna is scheduled to open on November 1.