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CPA okays lease pact with Island Fresh
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Posted on Apr 19 2000
The Commonwealth Ports Authority Board of Directors last week approved a 15-year lease agreement with a private company after hitting a snag for almost six years due to possible violation of the agency’s lease term policy.
Island Fresh was originally negotiating for a 25-year lease agreement with the ports authority but existing policy only allows CPA to enter into a maximum of 15-year lease contract.
However, the CPA Board of Directors gave Island Fresh an option to extend the 15-year lease contract for additional five years, and then another five years.
Former Gov. Lorenzo I. Deleon Guerrero, Island Fresh owner, previously told CPA officials that the 25-year period is needed to enable the company to recover its investment and to convince lending agencies to finance the project.
The company’s present 10-year contract with the ports authority on the 60,235-square foot property, signed on March 1, 1997, will last until February 2007.
In 1997, members of the previous CPA Board of Directors unanimously deferred action on the proposed 25-year lease contract with Island Fresh, citing the need for more time to review the proposal.
Mr. Guerrero previously threatened to file charges against the Teno-Pepero Transition Committee if he fails to get the lease contract with the ports authority which had been on the negotiating table since 1994.
Mr. Guerrero’s application for a lease on the property dates back to March 23, 1994 when he wrote former Marianas Public Land Corporation Executive Director William Concepcion.
Again in 1995, the former governor sent two letters to Division of Public Lands Director Bertha A. Camacho, expressing his interest to lease the property. Ms. Camacho answered his letters on February 9, 1996.
When the property was transferred to the ports authority in 1997, Mr. Guerrero negotiated with the CPA which granted Island Fresh a 10-year lease contract.
