The lease between Coco Reef Resort and Bermuda College was made public today.

Education Minister El James said he was not required under law to table the lease — which has been subject to much controversy in the last decade — but he was making it public to illustrate there was nothing to hide.

He said he would not formerly table the lease, because to do so would be setting a precedent.

The property on which the Coco Reef resort sits is owned by the Bermuda College board of governors — the college is publicly funded. Mr. James said that because the land is owned by the board and not the Government of Bermuda, it is not part of an existing law which requires Parliament to approve any lease of Government land for more than 21 years.

Minister James added that the deeds for the property were held by the board, and not the Department of Works and Engineering.

“Although I continue to be of the firm belief that there is no legal requirement to table the lease in the House of Assembly, I am also of the belief that the lease contains nothing that should be secret or hidden.

“Consequently, I will make a copy of the lease available to any Member who wishes one, but I will not be formally tabling the document.”

Mr. James said some of the pertinent details of the lease included the fact that the board has given its support to the resort building leaseback condos and the lease has been increased to 125 years.

He added: “The base rent by the tenant is set at $200,000 per year until the end of April 2013. The rent then increases to $250,000 per year until the end of April 2018. Further rent increases to the end of the lease are detailed in the lease.

“The tenant also pays turnover rent which is defined as 20 percent of the gross annual profit. To date, the hotel has not made a profit based on audited financial statements received.”

Since May, Coco Reef must also pay monthly $13,459 electricity payments because the two entities currently share the same meter — that is expected to change when construction on Coco Reef begins.

Minister James added that Coco Reef has also been keeping up with its end of the bargain by training young Bermudians in the hospitality sector.

Today was the first time the Government made the lease public.

The lease agreement between the two entities has been under scrutiny since 2003 when Government granted former Elbow Beach managing director John Jefferis a 50-year lease to manage the former Stonington Beach Hotel.

After winning the tender, Mr. Jefferis was able to renegotiate the terms of the lease. It doubled from 21 years to 50 while the rent to Government was reduced.

A 2004 Auditor General’s report recommended the lease should be re-tendered because it was “considerably more beneficial” to Mr. Jefferis than the tender document specified. The details of the lease were never tabled in the House of Parliament.

Earlier this year it was revealed that the lease had been renegotiated in 2009 to extend the period from 50 years to 125 years. The Opposition has asked several Parliamentary Questions about the lease which had gone unanswered until now.

For the full story see tomorrow's Royal Gazette.