Investors lured by Tinian’s rich history, culture

TINIAN—While Bridge Investments Group admitted that casino operations would be a key component of its proposed 300-room hotel; it would not be its major focus.

Rudy Pamintuan, spokesman and lead investor of the newly formed limited liability company, said Tinian, although small and remote, is filled with rich history and culture.

Further, it waves the American flag, he said.

Pamintuan said he first heard about Tinian from the Department of Interior’s Insular Affairs Assistant Deputy Assistant secretary David Cohen.

“Of course, my first question was where’s Tinian,” said Pamintuan during a public hearing here Thursday night.

He later met personally with Tinian Mayor Fracisco M. Borja in Los Angeles, who gave him more insights about the island.

His interest finally reached it peak in April this year when he decided to fly to Tinian from his base in Illinois, Chicago.

As he toured the island and learned about its significant cultural heritage and key role in world history, he said that he became all the more eager to be part of the community.

“This island is one living monument of great history,” said Pamintuan.

He said that his team aims to reflect the island’s past in the construction of their proposed hotel and casino resort on a 55,000-square-foot scenic hillside area near Lookout Point.

For instance, he said that guests visiting the resort would not only enjoy the tropical setting but also imbibe the local community’s culture.

The investors are consulting with Tanaguchi Ruth Architects on the architecture.

Based on the initial plan, the hotel casino complex would consist of two wings, a museum, and other amenities.

Pamintuan said the complex would have restaurants and a high-end shopping center to offer tourists other activities while on island.

There are three proposals as to the location of the museum.

One is for it to be within the confine of the building and the other proposal is to put it outside the building to give even outsiders an access to visit it.

Another idea is to transform the entire complex into a museum experience, meaning that it be stretched out throughout the facility.

Pamintuan said the project would bring in 336 new non-casino jobs.

He said the group aims to hire local residents as well as procure goods and services from the local vendors, including local artworks, and plants.

“We’ll highlight the local arts and culture in our rooms and halls. We’d showcase them in art shows,” he said.

The group, which also calls itself BIG, the acronym of its business name, said supporting educational programs is part of their plan.

The investors said they would participate in the education tax credit, offer scholarships for students, and training for potential employees.

Further, the group said that it would support the anti-gambling addiction program in the community, eliciting laughter even among the commissioners of the Tinian Gaming and Casino Control during the public hearing.

Pamintuan said in an interview that following their research about the CNMI, they found that addiction to gambling is one social problem that is facing the Commonwealth.

“We will get involved in such a program,” he said.

He said that even as their proposed resort offers gambling as an activity, he said that “it is just one of the components of entertainment.”

“There are other elements around it,” he said.

He said that their goal as businessmen would be to help address social problems facing the community.

He noted that all the five investors in the group are not new to public service or volunteer work.

The investors include Pamintuan, Erick Wang, Rocky Li, Kenneth Wong, and Dr. Akshay Desai.

All five were given conditional casino license individually and as a group through their business name.

TGCCC executive director Esther Hofschneider-Barr, in a recommendation, said that all five investors were investigated on their personal and professional capacities following their filing of licensure application last month.

Based on that investigation and evaluation, she said that all five have each “established a convincing evidence that each is suitable to hold a casino license.”

Commission legal counsel Elliot Sattler affirmed this by saying that “there is sufficient legal basis that BIG and each investor are both qualified and suitable to have a casino license.”

He noted that the suitability phase is “most significant and most critical phase of the application process.”

“These individuals are highly qualified,” said Sattler.

Pamintuan is a presidential appointee who currently chairs the Presidential Advisory Committee on Asia and Pacific Islands.

Wong and Desai are both members of the presidential committee members.

Rocky Li is vice chairman of Waitex, a leading public warehousing and storage complex in New York, an apparel import and wholesale, among others, with subsidiary companies in other countries including China and Hong Kong.

Li’s brother, Howard Li, the chairman and CEO of Waitex, is the developer of the hotel and casino resort.

Both brothers own 27.5 percent each of Bridge Investment Group’s assets.

Erick Wang, who has extensive business relations in Asia, is an expert in technology startup and advertising.

Pamintuan, meantime, is president of Sherman Consulting, Inc., a media strategy and public policy consulting firm based in Illinois.

Wong, of Holland, Pennsylvania, is the president of CIG Asia, Ltd., a national property and casualty brokerage firm in Philadelphia and vice president of Combined Insurance Group, while Dr. Desai is a leading private practice physician and founder of American Family and Geriatric Care in St. Petersburg, Florida, as well as the CEO and president of Universal Health Care, a managed care organization.

The investors are represented locally by their consultant, Phillip Mendiola Long.

Long resigned as the Tinian mayor’s senior policy advisor last month.