Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar anticipates reaching an agreement on voluntary separation packages for 91 Grand Lucayan managers within weeks.

This past Friday, the Minister headed into a meeting with an optimistic Bahamas Hotel Managerial Union President Obie Ferguson.

Coming out of it, Mr. D’Aguilar branded the meeting as  productive , while Mr. Ferguson only said that negotiations are progressing.

The managers are looking to secure some $5 million,  but  Lucayan Renewal Holding Chairman Michael Scott is adamant that the board will not go over $3.2 million.

Much talk has been made about the fact that the government has at this point only signed a letter of intent for the purchase of the Grand Lucayan Resort.

Still, Mr.  Carey  Leonard – who serves as a Director of the property, believes Bahamians should be comforted by this.

“Things that last well,  usually you have to build a solid foundation and it takes a while to build. As you know, there are a number of moving parts of any major project to bring them all together and it takes time.” 

“The letter of intent does provide for 90 days and after that we hope that we can get a contract with a 60-day closing,” he said.  

He stressed that a lot has to happen with the first 90 days.

“I think it’s safe to say that you have to find operators for one or more of the hotels. On top of that, you have to find airlift to make sure that you’re able to fill the hotels.

“They have a plan which has been made public with respect to how they plan to redevelop the water front into basically a water theme park.  Then of course you’ve got to be able to market your hotels to fit that park,” Mr. Leonard said.  

The government purchased the Grand Lucayan Resort last year for $65 million with a $30 million down payment to be made upfront.The idea was to get a buyer for the property as soon as possi