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NASSAU, BAHAMAS-Russell Industries Inc. of Houston and Andros Isle Development Corp. of Miami, a pair of Pink Sheets-traded public companies, are forming a joint venture to develop condo hotels, luxury resorts and marinas in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The duo plan to focus on existing, operational hotels that can be redeveloped as condo hotels and small, ultra luxury ground-up development projects.
Russell Industries is a holding company that owns 54 uranium and vanadium mining claims located in East Canyon, Monticello, UT. Andros Isle Development Corp. specializes in the acquisition and development of luxury resort communities in the Caribbean Basin.
The partnership is between Russell Industries and Andros Isle Development Ltd., a wholly owned, Nassau-based subsidiary of Andros Isle Development Corp. Russell Industries CEO Rick Berman says the team in charge of managing the operations of the yet to be named venture is currently analyzing potential projects, and hopes to announce the first joint project in the coming weeks.
In June, Andros Isle Development Ltd. signed a letter of intent to acquire a 198-acre parcel of beachfront property just south of Morgan's Bluff on the eastern coast of North Andros Island in the Bahamas. The development concept includes plans for a 120-room luxury hotel, an 80-slip marina for vessels up to 100 feet in length, 60 marina harbor town-homes, a championship golf course with a clubhouse and a retail shopping center, up to 200 ocean and golf course view condos, and a small, oceanfront residential community.
When it announced the LOI, the company said it would file a development plan with the Foreign Investment Board and begin pre-sales as soon as the engineering studies are completed. It was not immediately clear whether Andros Isle has closed on the acquisition. Andros Isle CEO Donald Harper could not be reached Thursday afternoon for comment.
In December, the same Andros Isle subsidiary signed a preliminary agreement to acquire a 2,700-plus-acre tract on property near the city of La Romana in the Dominican Republic that was originally master-planned as a luxury resort community with 4,500 residential units, three golf courses and a 300-slip marina. The company said it expects to have a definitive purchase agreement signed on or before Feb. 9 and that the sale will close in the second quarter of the year.
To help fund both acquisitions, Andros Isle's board in July voted to amend the company's by-laws and authorize the issuance of up to 10 million preferred shares. At the time, the company said it would immediately arrange for the placement of five million shares of Series A, Cumulative Preferred Shares with a par value of $2.00 per share, and a coupon rate of 10%.
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