As already stated, the way has been cleared for the sale of Cap Juluca, following the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) on August 24 by Anguilla’s Chief Minister, Osbourne Fleming, with Gencom and Whitehall Street International Real Estate, for the acquisition of the Leeward Islands Resort lease from the island’s premier hotel at Maunday’s Bay.

Mr. Hansjoerg Maissen

A release from the Chief Minister’s Office stated that the agreement came after a long period of negotiations which began in 2006.

“The MOA will allow the company to consummate its agreement with Don Friedland, the principal owner of the property,” the release went on. “The Government of Anguilla on the basis of this agreement becomes a 20% owner in the new company. At least 80 acres of the 179-acre property will become a national park and arrangements have been made to ensure the continued employment of staff.”

The release stated that the concerns of other properties had been addressed and efforts were made to maintain the quality product and brand and ensure that the operator of the property was a first class, five-star company.

“The Chief Minister has expressed his appreciation to the Anguillian community, the workers at Cap Juluca and other concerned Anguillians and guests, for their patience and support,” the release added.

Elsewhere in this issue of The Anguillian is a press release from Gencom on the matter.

Meanwhile, Cap Juluca’s General Manager, Hansjoerg Maissen, told The Anguillian that the agreement on the resort was the best thing that could happen to the property both for the hotel’s employees and for Anguilla to have a new owner in the capacity of Gencom. He said the company owned other luxury hotels world-wide and was prepared to provide the money needed to keep the project the great Cap Juluca it had always been.

He went on:

“Having said all of that, we must not ignore the fact that in spite of the age of the property, all the tumult during the last year or so with the sale, the lawsuits and other matters, the hotel has still been doing great because of its staff. In reality, Cap Juluca has been made by its employees and that is the biggest asset of this property. Yes, we have a spectacular beach, there is a nice location and the climate is great, but we want people to come back and they are doing so because of the service and the personal attention and they recognise the faces of the employees.

“I have been saying to all our employees – let us not worry about some buyers or sellers or the shares that are changing hands. Just continue to do the work because Cap Juluca is you. The fact that there is going to be a new owner is not going to change anything to you and to your lives. The fact that we now have new owners will bring about some peace of mind to everybody, that it is a good owner who will invest to keep Cap Juluca where it is.

“In due course we will enlarge the property which will create even more jobs for Anguillians but that will not happen in the short term. That will take at least another two or three years before we think about expanding it. We will be investing money in the existing property to bring everything up to par and that is both Front of the House and Back of the House.”

Mr. Maissen said that because the sale agreement process took so long to be approved, it was very late to do anything major to the hotel in the closing period of September and October. “We will reopen at the end of October, as we always did, so there is little to do as we did not have time to order materials or anything, so we will just do whatever we can in a big rush to freshen up things in order that the hotel would be in good shape for the reopening,” he continued.

“Then all of the next season we are going to operate the hotel pretty much the way it is owned and managed. There is no managing company coming in the very near future and no major renovations will take place because we want to keep the hotel open for all of next season. When we close at the end of August next year, that will be the time that we will attack some major renovations.” The refurbishing work will be carried out in a number of rooms, the main house and the spa and efforts will be made not to close the hotel any longer than the normal two-month period.

Maissen said the first consideration would be to safeguard the jobs of the 400-odd employees and also for the Government to continue receiving its revenue.

“I am moving over to Gencom now and my responsibility will be to look after Cap Juluca as one of its properties and I will be spending most of my time in Anguilla,” he said. “I came here to help Don Friedland with the transition and during that time I started to talk about Gencom and Gencom wanted me to stay on so I will be overseeing the management of the hotel for at least the next season until we decide whether we will go with a management company and which it is going to be.”

Mr. Maisssen, who estimated that expansion of the hotel could begin in 2010, said efforts were being made to keep the density of the resort low. The additional work plus the existing hotel could bring the property in the region of 250 rooms with supporting services.

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