Page 168 - MAjestic v7

D ESTI NATI O N
AN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIR
Teo is pointing to February 2019 for the track ’s grand
opening, which he hopes will be attended by an
international who’s who of racing both human and equine.
“My dream is that next year in February, guys like Bob Baffert
and Todd Pletcher, our trainers in the US, and other trainers
from America and around the world could come down to
support us,” Teo said. “That would be very nice. I think we
can also assemble a good caliber of horses at a Classic distance
on the dirt.” He continued, “It is a day for Australians, Asians, an FBO for private jets. In addition, a new state-of-the-art
Americans and Europeans to come and celebrate racing. The
racing next year will be a great conference.”
“It is very, very exciting for us,” Prime Minister Chastanet
added. “It gives us one whole year to properly promote it and
we will have several projects that will have officially started.
When you are trying to promote a project to investors,
there is a big difference between the words potential and
reality. I think doing that event and coinciding with a major
investment forum will continue to promote what we are
doing with Site C [the site of the new reclamation project].”
The Prime Minister continued, “In a year’s time, Site C will
hopefully be started and we can do a major ground breaking.
When people can see the pictures of what we proposed for
the horse racing track and what we delivered is exactly that
picture, it gains confidence. One of Teo’s strengths is what
they are drawing up is exactly what it looks like. It is not an
approximation, it is an accurate depiction of what is going to
be delivered on the ground.”
SOUTH BEACH MEETS THE SOUTH OF
FRANCE
Site C that the Prime Minister referred to is a currently
unnamed reclamation project that Teo’s firm is designing
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and developing on behalf of the St Lucian government.
The project will mirror South Beach Miami or the South
of France as a high-profile destination for the wealthy with
waterfront villas that offer docking for yachts, a large marina
with the ability for home porting for the largest cruise ships
in the world, as well as hotels, casinos and a commodities
trading and storage centre for high end art, gold, etc.
“It is a game changer,” Prime Minister Chastanet said of
Site C. “Even before the elections, we had been indicating
that St Lucia should not expand its cruise ship facilities in
the north, but should take advantage of the international
airport in the south and build facilities for the genesis
boats and home porting. We have been in discussions
with Carnival [Cruise Lines], which is amazing. They
have a home porting facility in Barbados which they have
outgrown. The timing of Site C is phenomenal.”
Teo added, “The marina in Castries [capital of St Lucia] has
reached its capacity. The water here [in the south] is deep.
It is 22m, which is ideal, with no waves. The channel will
be dredged for the cruise ships to come in and out using the
material from the sea or the land to fill the area. We would
like to see it all done by 2020.”
The centerpiece of the new project will be the expansion
of Vieux Fort’s international airport. The runway will be
extended and the existing terminal will be transformed into
terminal will be built to attract commercial planes from around
the world and allow more to enter the island at one time.
“What we are going to be careful with is not to build the
airport to today’s standards, but to anticipate where travel
is going,” Prime Minister Chastanet said. “How you are
processed is going to be completely different. For too long
we have seen the airports not differentiate airline clientele,
meaning once your first class and business class passengers
step off the plane, their differentiation stops. So, the goal
here is really to create a two-tier system where we treat our
high-end passengers very different. The idea is you’d be
arriving into a lounge and to use technology where you are
being checked into your hotel right there.” The goal of the
Pearl of the Caribbean project is to raise the status of the
island of St Lucia to an elite level.
“It will become like a South Beach, but instead of Art Deco,
we will develop our own unique architectural theme,” Prime
Minister Chastanet said. “I am extremely excited. It gives
you the ability to put between 1,500 and 2,000 rooms in
one space which augments your home porting because 50%
of the business will come on flights.”
The Pearl of the Caribbean will also help lower the high
unemployment rate, which is especially prominent in the