Above: a rendering of the Baha Mar project (CJ Photo)
By Alexander Britell
The Baha Mar resort project, the largest in the Caribbean, has reached its construction midpoint.
The $3.5 billion development on New Providence’s Cable Beach has completed the final level, the 25th floor, of the Baha Mar Casino & Hotel, the tallest structure at the 1,000-acre resort.
The project’s Mondrian and Rosewood hotel properties will soon follow in completing their final vertical beams.
“It was a big milestone,” Chief Marketing Officer Denise Godreau told Caribbean Journal. “It marks the midpoint of the project, so we are celebrating the topping off of the casino tower, our highest tower, and at the same time reaching the midpoint of the development on time and on budget — so it’s pretty exciting.”
The Baha Mar, which is being financed by the Import-Export Bank of China, launched construction in 2011.
The 2,200-room development is set for completion in December 2014.
“Baha Mar is at its core about the Bahamas,” said Sarkis Izmirlian, chairman and CEO of Baha Mar, in a statement. “Baha Mar is taking flight, ready to become the must-visit destination of this generation.”
On hand for the official ceremony last week was rocker Lenny Kravitz, who now heads the Kravitz Design firm, which will be performing work at Baha Mar on a nightclub and a luxury villa.
“This is the first commercial project for Kravitz Design in the Bahamas and I’m really looking forward to lending our unique flavour to the design of both the nightclub and the luxury villa.”
The property made several other announcements this week.
First, Baha Mar said the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas will curate artworks on loan from its collection at the Baha Mar’s Dawn Davies collection.
The project also announced that British company ESPA will be operating Baha Mar’s destination spa.