Read indepth magazine
Baha Mar – The New Riviera Awaits
The scale of the Baha Mar development can only truly be appreciated from above and as our helicopter traversed the afternoon sky over Nassau, we were afforded the perfect vantage point for observing the enormity of what is taking place along this long stretch of Bahamian coastline.
The largest single-phase resort development in the Western Hemisphere, the numbers behind Baha Mar are eye-boggling enough. Costing $3.5 billion, the resort will comprise 4 luxury hotels containing more than 2,200 rooms and spread across 1,000 acres, with 3,000 feet of uninterrupted white sand beach at its doorstep.
But there’s more. Amenities will include a vast casino featuring 1,500 slots and 150 table games; an 18-hole, 72-par championship Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course; more than 30 restaurants, nightclubs and entertainment venues; and a 30,000 square feet ESPA spa. If you like it enough, an elite collection of 284 private residences are for sale, priced from US$1.5 million.
It is a remarkable endeavour and, as we were shown around the construction site we learned more about its anticipated impact on the local economy and how it will serve as a magnet for tourists from across the world.
While The Bahamas already has its fair share of high-end resort -, most famously Atlantis - Baha Mar aims to differentiate itself by targeting a younger, less family-oriented crowd. Mondrian, in particular, will serve as its beacon property for attracting design-oriented trend-setters.
At the heart of the development will be a vast casino, situated within the The Baha Mar Casino & Hotel – the only ‘own-branded’ hotel within Baha Mar. Described by Denise Godreau, Chief Marketing Officer of Baha Mar as offering “the excitement of Las Vegas with the high-end glamour of Monte Carlo”, the casino hotel will eschew the typical dark, windowless gambling room, and instead offer a light and airy space for patrons to enjoy, as well as relaxed poolside gambling via smart phones and tablets.
If those words conjure up an image of ultra-modern luxury living, then it is with good reason. Baha Mar may still be under construction, but its vision is already complete.
Baha Mar is scheduled to open in December 2014.