The development company behind the unfinished Baha Mar mega-resort
has sued its general contractor, and its largest creditor, a day after filing
for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Baha Mar Ltd. has filed a claim in the English High Court
against China State Construction Engineering Corp. (a division of China Construction America), the
developer said in a statement Tuesday. The claim stems from what Baha Mar Ltd.
said were repeated delays that have caused the resort to miss its opening
deadlines.
Baha Mar Ltd. CEO Sarkis Izmirlian said China State Construction made guarantees that
the project would open in November 2014 and then in late March, and that Baha
Mar Ltd.’s hiring of almost 2,000 people at the resort was based on those
construction deadlines that weren’t met.
The developer also said it unsuccessfully sought funding
from its primary lender, Export-Import Bank of China, in order to help finish
the project.
On Monday, Izmirlian said a Chapter
11 proceeding would help get the $3.5 billion project done. As part of the
bankruptcy filing, Baha Mar Ltd. said it arranged for debtor-in-position
financing for as much as $80 million to help finish the project. Baha Mar Ltd.
said that it planned to tap into as much as $30 million of that amount within
the next 30 days.
Baha Mar Ltd. filed for Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy
Court in Delaware, and will file an application in the Supreme Court of the
Bahamas seeking approval of the U.S. court orders. The developer, in its June
29 court filing, listed more than $125 million in debt, including $72.6 million
owed to China Construction America and $19.5 million to Bahamas Electricity
Corp.
Baha Mar is slated to include the 1,000-room Baha Mar Casino
& Hotel, the 707-room Grand Hyatt at Baha Mar, the 300-room SLS Lux at Baha
Mar and the 200-room Rosewood at Baha Mar. The project’s fifth hotel and lone
pre-existing property, the 694-room Melia Nassau Beach, remains open as it
completes its renovations and conversion to the Melia at Baha Mar early next
year.