Dear Sir,

When all else fails, read the directions. There are times when I have to admit I fall into this category. Like, for example, assuming I’m perfectly capable of operating a simple, small appliance by just taking it out of the box and turning it on. Like the time I bought a solar sensor adaptor for an outside light fixture. You just screw it in. Of course, had I not thrown out the packaging containing the installation directions, I would have known that the sensor eye needs “precision” positioning in order for it to work properly. Those things are tricky. Luckily, I paid only $12 for that “lesson” learnt.

Following instructions ... following sensible advice ... learning from industry experts ... learning from your mistakes.

What do these phrases have in common? They can all be used when describing the 17-year-long $100 million-plus, taxpayer-funded development project, located on the South Shore in Warwick. Right now, this development still sits empty and its function is about to change for the third time.

Lieutenant-Colonel David Burch, the Minister of Public Works, gave a perfectly timed, solemn and appropriately scary Hallowe’en press conference, updating us on the very latest developments with the condo hotel known as the Bermudiana Beach Resort. You are forgiven if the name is unfamiliar, given this project’s long, schizophrenic history beginning in 2007.

To summarise, here are the highlights of the minister’s press conference:

1, Only one Bermudiana Beach Resort condo was sold and has since been repurchased by the Government

2, An industry expert has advised the Government that there was an inherent failure in the business model and the Government will end the Bermudiana Beach Resort/Hilton Hotels management relationship

3, We will pay a “break up” divorce settlement, but only under $500,000

4, The development will be completed for use as residential rentals, with an availability date estimated at the end of January 2025.

5, The monthly rental values for the units are expected to be between $3,000 and $7,000, targeting tenants in the middle to high-end income brackets.

The history of this development should have included one essential fact, which curiously was missing from Colonel Burch’s summary: how the Government became part of this project.

He rightly mentioned that in 2007, this development was called the Grand Atlantic, which was a private-sector housing development to include a hotel after the residences were sold. Then, in 2009, the Government made a decision to help move the project forward by purchasing the housing portion of the project. This was facilitated through the Bermuda Housing Corporation, which took out a loan of approximately $40 million to buy 78 units.

What the minister failed to mention was that this was a very controversial decision made by Cabinet. Why was it controversial? Because the entire BHC board voted unanimously against this property purchase, and some board members even resigned after the decision was made.

As subsequently reported in 2013 — in both the Bermuda Sun and in The Royal Gazette — we learnt the BHC board members had good reasons for voting against this initiative way back in 2009:

1, Contrary to the essential mission of the BHC, the housing units were not going to be priced at an affordable/low price range

2, Available real estate statistics indicated the housing market was becoming saturated

3, The hotel aspect of the Grand Atlantic development was way off the scope of the BHC’s mandate

Yet knowing all of this, the Government still went forward with the purchase of the units, requiring the BHC to take out the loan. The housing minister responsible for the BHC in 2009 was Colonel Burch.

The housing component of the Grand Atlantic was finally completed by the BHC at the end of 2011, but only one unit sold out of 78 and the adjacent hotel was never built. (Note: During the years 2009 to 2012, Bermuda had lost about 8,000 residents, most of them guest workers. In 2013, the late, great Larry Burchall wrote in the Bermuda Sun that the national inventory of empty studios, apartments, condos, houses and mansions was probably sitting around 4,000 — or more.)

In 2012, the One Bermuda Alliance became the Government and inherited the defunct Grand Atlantic development. The new government considered the negative consequences of putting 78 units into a housing market which already had a surplus of empty apartments and so held the property in abeyance. By 2015, it was formalising a plan to convert the development to a condo hotel, and also the original BHC loan for the housing units was refinanced.

However, in 2017, there was another change of government and Colonel Burch, now of the newly elected Progressive Labour Party government, announced they would move forward with the existing initiative to convert the empty, run-down housing complex into a mid-market boutique hotel to be renamed the Bermudiana Beach Resort, which would be managed by Hilton Hotels. Here we are, seven years later, and we have just been informed that this project as a boutique condo hotel is not viable.

Back to that recent Hallowe’en press conference: the minister has confirmed that the Bermudiana Beach Resort units will now join the rental market, adding to it their 94 residential units of beachfront property — studio, and one, two and three-bedroom.

This statement made by Colonel Burch was priceless:

“But when presented with the data, and the expert advice, the Government chose to change course yet again — but one that we believe is in the best interest of the country and one that will prove beneficial to the economy in the long term.”

How on earth did he keep a straight face when he said that? I mean, what an incredible performance. I think Colonel Burch should get an academy award for Best Actor in a Long-Running Drama Series.

Bermuda is one of the most successful and respected financial services jurisdictions in the world and our private sector is teeming with world-class talent, including financial advisers, lawyers, actuaries, re/insurance underwriters and risk experts. It truly is embarrassing to witness this level of fiscal incompetence that we have had within our pool of politicians over many years, which sadly continues to reach new depths.

Note to calendar: don’t forget that there is a second real estate development plan in the pipeline for Morgan’s Point. It is a luxury residential waterfront village with mixed amenities. The development will be 100 per cent led and managed by the PLP government, and it has promised that this time it will succeed.

BEVERLEY CONNELL

Pembroke