Kenneth Dart turns his attention to The Bahamas
(The Tribune): Cayman businessman and developer Kenneth Dart is turning his attention and investment to the re-birth of the Bay and Parliament Street area of the Bahamas’ capital. The Dart Group, founded by the billionaire heir to a Styrofoam cup fortune, and developer of the 500-acre Camana Bay project, has, according to sources, signed an agreement to purchase prime downtown Nassau real estate opposite the country’s House of Assembly on Parliament Street. Dart Group’s representatives are believed to have visited Nassau last year and were attracted by the waterfront properties that will be freed up for commercial/residential development when the shipping companies relocate to Arawak Cay.
Sources told The Tribune that Dart had “the skills and deep pockets necessary” to turn the vision for downtown Nassau into reality, having created Camana Bay from scratch.
Category: World News
Cayman Get Real
Why is there resentment of a wealthy person like Dart? You should feel proud and grateful that he invested here and not somewhere else. If it weren't for Camana Bay, Cayman would be dying right now. There are so many other places that businesses can operate from, and people emmigrate to.
Dart is leaving Cayman? Looks to me that he has identified an investment opportunity that he would like to pursue. Did his status come with an exclusivity clause?
Please dont go Mr. Dart.. Please dont go! We love you! We want u here!
And we need u!
Just look at all the things we did so u would stay here.,
Look at how we allowed u to buy up most of the land in Cayman…
Look at how much money u made from those developments at Caymana Bay…
Look at how we allowed u to buy the major jewelery and liquor distribution outlets…
Look at how we gave status to thousands of Jamaican helpers.. And even some people who were in jail or that were not even in Cayman. Just so it would confuse the people and they would not even notice that u slipped through too..
Look at how grateful we were for those parks u gave us…
Look how we are going to give u all the money from the cruise ship business. We dont need to get anything from that. If u just build the port you can collect all the landing fees and taxes and sell all the duty free items from your liquor stores and jewelry stores.. Just tell us if a 99 year contract is too short…
Please dont go Mr. Dart… We love u and need u and want u here..
And thank u for getting the contract for those schools.. Now our children can go to school in nice buildings.. And get educated..
And we are very thankful Mr. Dart…
And was it u that bought up most of those Govt Bonds? I dont really know but I know that u like buying up Govt Bonds..You have a record for that..So thank u just in case it was u.. Now we can owe u instead of those bad Banks in Cayman..
So please dont go Mr. Dart..
We will even open our airports at any hour so you private jet can land.. And u dont need to go through immigration or customs or all that nonsense..
You are one of us Mr. Dart.. U are we and we are u.. (except we have just a little bit less money..
Please dont go… We like u.. we love u.. we need u.. And we are so appreciative we finally have a cinema to see those fantastic movies..
Bahamas is a bad bad bad place,,.
Please dont go Mr. Dart…
Please stay here…We love u.. we need u… and we’re broke as hell…
I would love to know where you people read in that article that dart was picking up and leaving Cayman. Get over it… Camana Bay and Dart are here to stay.
OK – has anyone thought this could be EXPANSION, not PULLING OUT AND MOVING ON???
Someone tell Whistling Duck his Goose is cooked…
Dart fully intends to continue his Cayman investment – he is just doing what EVERY sensible businessman would do -DIVERSIFY…
Opportunities abound – if I was as fortunate as him to have the means to do it, you would be reading XXX in Cayman, Bermuda, Bahamas, Maldives, Corsica, Tasmania, Scilly, Antartica – WHEREVER the opportunities present…
Get over yourselves, Mr & Mrs Big Fish in a VERY LITTLE POND…
Now, everyone grab a pen, and the word of the day is J…E…A…L…O…U…S…Y…
Get the FARK over it – we all have our place – I am quite happy milking my (somewhat diminutive but quite profitable as long as I don’t spend my time bitchin’ and moanin’) COW…
If only HALF the effort was spent in positive ways on these boards as is sent in jealous, self seeking, hatred spreading ways, there really would be a lot more successful Caymanians like myself…
Off to market – another day of HONEST HARD work – and the payday that can bring…
The grass is always greener folks. If you think Cayman is in any sort of trouble at all, a week in the Bahamas (Nassau specifically) will have you scrambling for the first leaky boat or sputtering plane back to our blessed shores. New Providence has abject poverty, extreme violent crime and corruption reserved for war-torn nations in Africa. The unhealthy social mix there is fueled by 50% unemployment for working age men, slave-wage jobs for the women – many of whom work at Atlantis. The resentment and racism hangs thick in the air in New Providence. There is hate and weird jealousy in the eyes of the people for foreigners and successful locals alike. Dart surely knows this as his family has had a place on Edgewater Drive in Lyford Cay as long mine. His group buys by the acre and sells by the foot and in this economy he can swoop up the acres in Nassau knowing the economy is in the sh*tter and nobody can raise the cash he has. It’s a purely mercantilistic decision. Don’t let it weigh on your ego Cayman. Once his vision is complete it will be just like Caymana Bay, only with a barbed wire and a siege mentality which separates the majority of unemployed angry locals from the tourists and wealthy expats. You have "nothing" to be envious of. The Bahamas are not what they were in the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s. Consider this a cautionary tale for your Country.
This area is almost all retail. Most of the large retail chains you see in Cayman have locations up and down the island chains.
Me thinks they are expanding their Island Companies brand into other markets…
Which makes perfect cents (pardon pun)
Could the first step of more to come. Could be getting as fed up as the rest of us with the state this country is in, and its only getting worse thanks to our politicians. Perhaps he’s planning to up sticks and move too? Perhaps his 500 acres can sell off?
In all honesty, if that was the plan, who could blame him?
I doubt he has the reasons to be fed up that many others have.
It’s a big company…. it’s expanding.
When to worry is when he gets nuclear capabilities!
What sticks out like a sore thumb to me is the "500 acre Caymana Bay project" Maybe this is where Dr Shetty is going to have his hospital as at least half of the project will have been completed for him. Even more concessions! East End was probably just a smoke screen and the money will go back into Dart’s pockets
Oh please… so I guess, the bloggers here must have scared him so much that he has decided to invest somewhere else. Dart moves and breathes to make money. I am happy that many Caymanians will not allow ANYONE or remain silent to ANYONE who has money and the potential of buying-out the Cayman Islands! The economic pie has to be shared equally where Caymanians and many other forgeinors can benefit from it.
Just recently, I am proud to hear that Rolston has three developers working on the Schools – not just Dart… and that is good to know!
Oops… expecting many thumbs down
Looks like even Dart is getting fedup with Big Mac.
He reaped the rewards and is now moving on to bigger and better things!!! Who will government fall on now in hard times??? LMAO
He’s cheatn’ on us
Cayman Islands looks nice on his Resume
Makes sense, why put all your eggs in one rapidly devaluing but increasingly expensive to maintain basket?
Exactly! That’s why he is so wealthy and Cayman is (supposedly) not.
Isn’t this what Cayman has been doing – putting all its eggs in one or two baskets – Dart and Ryan?
Cayman does not have many eggs to offer.
true… but does the eggs belong to Cayman?
"Do the eggs". Good declension, it is a real friend winner.
That may be so, but the few we do have you are right here making, scrambled, boiled, poached, raw, egg custard, bread pudding, egg nog and icin. Not much let to offer you are right.
Can I formally declare the metaphor in this thread dead through over-extension?
To those that think that we dont need Dart as a partner, dont worry he is starting to do business else where, where he is being welcomed.
lol… there are more better billionaires and millionaires than Dart. Please don’t roll over like a fat cat and make it look like he is the only one-and-only food provider
: )
Could you please point to the line-up of millionaires and billionaires standing by on line to bring money into Cayman?
No, not that line… those are the millionaires and billionaires who are LEAVING Cayman.
I want you to point out the lineup to bring money INTO CAYMAN. Can’t find it? Hmmmm…..
This whistling duck is a little lame.
Perhaps that is why Mac is on tour again. He hates to see Dart go because of the beaurocracy and critics especially here on CNS. So he has to travel, reach out, and try to bring more rich folk to Cayman. These are crucial times now for our economy – we need a leader more than ever who has leadership and diplomacy
All the diplomacy of a bull in a china shop.
Man, that duck must be whistling in the dark. It’s a sign o’ the times compadre and if Dart is really being chased away, the same things that chased him away will keep others away.
but he is being welcomed here…he’s already pumped over $500M into Cayman at least….the part that some of us are uncomfortable with is how much becomes too much for one entity to ‘own’ or ‘finance’, thats why there is a lot, and it is a lot, of negative feeling about Dart getting more involved…..in the Bahamas, he’s never going to be as big as Kerzner, and also they have many other really big players…Joe Lewis is one….so to say he’s not being welcomed is incorrect……in Cayman, he’s the only guy in town….Ryan is not a player, he’s never been a player, he’s a master borrower is all…….Dart is the only man in town here, and thats what makes us nervous………nothing wrong with him investing elsewhere, its logical