OFF SEASON

Barbadians hoping to find work at the on-again, off-again Four Seasons Resort at Black Rock will have to wait for another “soon start” announcement from Government.
Sources close to the project told the SUNDAY SUN yesterday that two weeks ago the United States company that was gearing up to purchase and restart construction after getting the nod from the Freundel Stuart Administration and shareholders, officially informed authorities it was pulling out in frustration.
The California-based Colony Capital, which had put in a bid that would have injected US$462 million into the project, including an immediate US$71 million to pay off all the project’s debts, that would also have covered $5 million to the National Insurance Scheme and a long list of creditors, communicated its position to Government two Fridays ago.
A highly-placed construction source explained that while an earlier push to get the long-stalled luxury hotel and villas project at the site of the former Paradise Beach Hotel back on track had seen Colony team up with local firm C.O. Williams Construction to face off against a competing bid of another Bajan operation, Jada Construction, and a hotel group from Singapore, the latest failed attempt brought the local parties together.