Newly elected Pembroke Hamilton Club (PHC) President Johnny Ball has vowed to do “everything in his power” to maintain ownership of his club’s two-storey building on Reid Street, Hamilton.

But he revealed that selling the building to help the cash-strapped club pay off its creditors remains an option.

“PHC has financial challenges so unfortunately this option can’t be ruled out,” he told The Royal Gazette. “The older membership have fond memories of the Hamilton building so I will do everything in my power to keep it.”

It is estimated that the club’s Hamilton building is worth between $3.2 million and $3.6 million, according to an assessment conducted three years ago.

The option of selling the building has been strongly rejected by some of the club’s membership, among them long-serving members Earl (Townsey) Russell and Calvin (Bummy) Symonds.

PHC has suffered heavy losses of revenue in recent years, including the $164,250 they were forced to write off after the tenants of their Reid Street building, Total Home Ltd, went into liquidation and the termination of their contract with cellular provider M3 Wireless.

Fears have also been raised that Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU) may call in its loan to the club.

The BIU loaned PHC $1.2 million in 2001 to finance resurfacing of the playing field and installation of a new lighting system at the club’s Stadium Lane, Warwick property.

The loan was to be paid back over a 17-year period through rental income from PHC’s two-storey building located at 81 Reid Street, Hamilton.

But more than a decade later PHC has yet to pay principal on the loan.

After the BIU made the $1.2 million loan to PHC, the club successfully negotiated a 20-year lease agreement for $1 million with Esso for 20,000 sq ft of land at their Warwick property.

Esso subsequently leased an additional 2,000 sq ft of land for $125,000 to bring the total amount of the lease to $1,125,000.

Monies for leasing the gas station property have been fully paid to PHC.

The construction of a multipurpose facility at PHC’s Stadium Lane, Warwick premises is now years behind schedule with the club unable to secure funding to bring the ambitious project to fruition.

PHC’s old clubhouse in Warwick was demolished ten years ago.

Mr Ball, who inherited the club’s heavy financial burden after defeating incumbent Chris Furbert in an election for the top post during PHC’s recent AGM, has placed building a facility at Stadium Lane high on his agenda.

“I’m in the process of forming a strategic committee that will look into the economic feasibility of building a structure at Stadium Lane,” he revealed. “The committee will be composed of individuals who have the professional capability of making an informed recommendation to the PHC membership.”

Last year it was revealed that PHC’s multidimensional complex might have been completed on schedule had the club taken advice from the bank.

According to a reliable source, PHC repeatedly declined requests to downsize the project and accept the money HSBC was offering during negotiations to secure a loan to finance the project.

Club documents reveal that PHC were seeking to borrow between $10 million and $11 million from HSBC who were only willing to lend $8.5 million.

The source claimed that the bank felt that the planned structure was “too large” and needed to be downsized while the money PHC was seeking to borrow was “too much”.

The source added that the then PLP Government of the day also felt the project was “too elaborate” and urged the club to accept the money the bank was offering.

Last year The Royal Gazette revealed that the previous Government entered into an $8 million, 20-year lease agreement with PHC.

The agreement, which was due to come into effect once PHC’s multidimensional complex had been completed, would see the Ministry of Education pay the club usage fees for preschool, primary and middle school students within the TN Tatem cluster of schools (Warwick and Paget Preschools, Purvis Primary, Heron Bay Primary, Gilbert Primary, Paget Primary Schools and TN Tatem Middle School) to use the club’s facility that would feature a 2,500-seat multipurpose room, health club and youth club.

The agreement called for PHC to provide the facility and the programmes for $442 per student per year, with the proviso that this sum would not be less than $391,000 per year.

The September 2008 agreement between the Ministry of Education and PHC was never made public until this newspaper broke the story and it was tabled in the Senate four years later.