business@tribunemedia.net
Monday, January 26, 2026
Fight for ex-Ginn project heating up BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE fight to acquire and develop the former Ginn project has intensified after a Bahamian-led investor group paid a $2.6m deposit to purchase 1,143 acres as part of its bid to transform Grand Bahama’s West End into “the Monaco of the Caribbean”. Tribune Business has obtained independent confirmation that Shane Coakley, the Bahamian principal of Seattle-based Coakley International, has paid a 10 percent deposit as the first step in a $26m deal with The Bahamas’ treasurer to acquire four separate land parcels which formed the core of Ginn sur mer’s real estate development component. Both sides have 45 days to close the deal under a sales agreement dated December 16, 2025, which means the transaction is scheduled to complete - and the balance of the $26m purchase price be paid - by this Friday, January 30, although this deadline can be extended under certain conditions. The agreement reveals that the Treasurer is acting as the vendor, or seller, of the four parcels because they were seized and auctioned-off by the Department of Inland Revenue using its powers to collect on delinquent
real property taxes. However, the deal with Coakley International generates multiple unresolved questions given that there are rivals with competing ownership claims to the same four land parcels. Multiple well-placed sources, speaking under condition of anonymity, are challenging whether the Treasurer has anything to sell given that much of the real estate that comprised the former Ginn project is caught up in a legal dispute over alleged unpaid real property taxes, and the amount that is owed, which is set to be heard by the Tax Appeals Commission around the end of March 2026. The tax challenge is spearheaded by Lubert Adler, the investment bank that was Ginn’s former financing partner, and Orlando-based Kingwood International Resorts, which has been attempting to acquire the rights and title to the West End project from it. Given that this battle remains live, and unresolved, several sources are querying whether the Treasurer has obtained ownership and can sell the land to Mr Coakley. Tribune Business has seen documents suggesting that the Department of Inland Revenue exercised its “power of sale”, and
DEAL - See Page B6
• Bahamian-led group in $26m land deal with Treasurer
THE Bahamas Pharmaceutical Association (BPA) is slamming as a “gross mischaracterisation” comments by a Cabinet minister that some fees charged for medicines are “arbitrary” and imposed for “no rhyme or reason”. Dr Marvin Smith, the BPA president, in a statement issued yesterday hit back at Michael Halkitis, minister of economic
Bahamian investor’s $6.5b spend targets ‘thousands of jobs’ BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN investor has unveiled ambitious plans to create thousands of construction and full-time jobs through the $6.5bn transformation of the former Ginn project in Grand Bahama’s West
DR MARVIN SMITH affairs, over remarks that he asserted unfairly suggested pharmacies are taking savings as profits rather than passing them on to consumers - a claim he branded as “factually incorrect and insulting” to the industry. Mr Halkitis, at a recent Prime Minister’s Office media briefing, said that
LEVIES - See Page B8
Union urges PHA members: ‘Cease and desist’ overtime BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A TRADE union leader is warning members at the Public Hospitals Authority (PHA) not to work any more overtime “until such time” as outstanding funds are paid following a crackdown on such compensation after budget allocations were exhausted. Kimsley Ferguson, president of the Bahamas Public Services Union (BPSU), which represents PHA support staff, clerical workers, laboratory technicians
• Doesn’t see ‘any problem’ obtaining Gov’t approvals
RENDERINGS of the hotel/casino and mega yacht marina for Coakley International’s proposed $6.4bn development of the former Ginn project’s site in Grand Bahama’s West End.
‘An affront to all pharmacy owners’ BY FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net
• Sparks questions with upcoming tax appeal hearing
KIMSLEY FERGUSON and morgue employees, told Tribune Business he was “very concerned” that members who worked
WARNING - See Page B7
End into “the Monaco of the Caribbean”. Shane Coakley, principal of Seattle-based Coakley International, which is described as a real estate and investment company, told Tribune Business that the planned nine to 12-year build-out will generate an estimated 2,800
construction jobs and as many as 6,000 permanent Bahamian jobs as he pledged to “see it all the way through”. Speaking after payment of a $2.6m deposit, the first step in acquiring 1,143 acres at the former Ginn site from The Bahamas’
DEVELOP - See Page B4
SHANE COAKLEY