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The Bahamas on the Radar
JAN. 23, 2014
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By JULIE SATOW

For several years, wealthy New Yorkers, even those relatively unscathed by the financial crisis, seemed to put their second-home dreams on hold. But as the real estate market in the city has strengthened, many of these high-end buyers have started shopping for beachfront retreats again.

The Albany, a luxury resort in the Bahamas with boldface names like Tiger Woods and Ernie Els for investors, hopes to capitalize on this latest trend. And for a direct link between New York and this development, Howard M. Lorber, the chairman of Douglas Elliman and the chief executive of the investment firm New Valley, is developing a midrise condominium there. This is the first time that Mr. Lorber, who is based in New York, is developing in the Bahamas and also the first time Douglas Elliman is marketing there.

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The owners hope that this next stage of the development will extend the Albany’s reach beyond professional athletes, industry leaders and pop stars, to New Yorkers more generally. The Honeycomb will be one of four midrise buildings rising in a mini-city within the community. As with the private homes that are part of the resort, the owners of these apartments can choose to put their units in a hotel system to rent them out. Prices per night on the homes and apartments range from $3,500 to $30,000. The largest shareholder of the Albany is the British billionaire Joe Lewis, who was ranked the 308th richest person by Forbes last year and who made a fortune betting on the currency markets with George Soros. The Albany broke ground in 2008, just as Lehman Brothers was collapsing and the financial crisis was taking hold. Many other resorts in the area that had been under construction at the time stalled, but the Albany continued to push ahead, buoyed by Mr. Lewis’s deep pockets.

Now that bet seems to be paying off. The resort is capitalizing on a resurgent interest in second homes among New Yorkers and wealthy Americans in general. “We are seeing an increase in American second-home owners coming to the Bahamas, especially over the past six months,” said Heather Lightbourn Peterson, a broker at Coldwell Banker in Nassau.

Jonathan J. Miller, the president of the appraisal firm Miller Samuel and the author of research reports for Douglas Elliman Real Estate, said the trend began more than two years ago. “Luxury real estate is the new global currency,” said Mr. Miller, noting that data on the trend were hard to come by, because in many vacation areas, public documents are not required. “Everything is anecdotal,” he added.

Mr. Lorber said he first visited the Albany in 2008, when Raphael De Niro, a broker at his firm and a son of the actor Robert De Niro, rented Albany House for his wedding ceremony. Last year Mr. Lorber returned to the resort and was amazed by the variety of amenities. “There were two beach clubs, one for kids and one just for adults,” he said. “It was all very family-oriented — it was like a newer, hipper Lyford Cay.” He was referring to the exclusive gated community on the island.

Mr. Lorber said he had noticed that many of the original buyers were selling their homes for 50 percent to 80 percent more than they had paid just three years earlier, “and so I told them I’d love to have some ownership in the project as well as do the sales.”

It is the first time that the Albany’s ownership has developed a building on the property with an outside firm. As for hiring brokers to market the units, “we have found that most brokers don’t deliver,” said Christopher Anand, the fourth-largest shareholder in the Albany and a senior managing director of the Tavistock Group. “We have had very little help from outside agencies, selling over 150 properties mostly through our own networks of friends and acquaintances. But when you have skin in the game, where you are a shareholder as well as a broker, there tends to be a much greater rate of success.”

“The idea with having Douglas Elliman on board is that the New York buyer hasn’t been addressed,” Mr. LeDon said. “Wealthy New Yorkers have been going down to the Bahamas for quite some time, and all without any proper marketing. We aim to change that.”

From the perspective of the Manhattan market, in which many new residential developments are asking $7,000 to $8,000 a square foot, these oceanfront condos are relatively inexpensive, Mr. Lorber said. With closing costs and other expenditures, apartments at the Honeycomb cost roughly $1,600 to $1,700 a square foot.

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Paradise Has Been Found, And It's The 'Honeycomb' Bahamas Condo (PHOTOS)
Posted: 01/31/2014 9:08 am EST Updated: 01/31/2014 5:59 pm EST Print Article

As if living in the Bahamas wasn't paradise enough, the Danish architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) is taking it to the next level with their newest project, the Honeycomb. Named for its glass geometric facade and facing the south coast of New Providence, the midrise complex will house 34 units that "offer a variety of floor plans that will suit the diverse lifestyle of its tenants," and contribute to the organic hexagonal motif of the structure.

And, believe it or not, spectacular marina and ocean views and tailored layouts are not even the best part. In each penthouse, which will range from two to seven bedrooms, there will be private outdoor terraces that "are deep enough to not only provide an outdoor space, but also summer kitchens and a pool sunken into the balcony floor." But these pools aren't just a luxury, they're a design decision -- as BIG notes, they span each balcony unit and literally become "the face of the building."

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