Tinian casino project ‘re-evaluated’ due to federalization

Bridge Investment Group LLC is now re-evaluating its plan to build a $40 million to $50 million casino and condominiums project on Tinian based on the global economic crunch and the federal takeover of CNMI immigration by June.

The firm has halted construction at the project site.

Phillip Mendiola-Long, executive vice president of Bridge Investment Group-CNMI operations, yesterday said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s regulations excluding China from the list of countries granted a visa waiver to enter the CNMI will have an impact on the project.

“Although we have yet to make a final decision going forward on what, if any, changes will occur to our current business model, we continue to closely monitor both the U.S. DHS regulatory position and the CNMI government’s lawsuit against the United States. The results of which will have a direct impact on our business model going forward,” Mendiola-Long told Saipan Tribune.

He said construction on the Bridge Investment project began but “we have halted progress until a clear and final U.S. Immigration regulatory environment can be determined.”

Bridge Investment secured a license to operate a casino on Tinian in 2005. It earlier planned to build a $200 million project on Tinian, but scaled it down to $40 million-$50 million in early 2008.

Bridge Investment’s project, called Tinian Oceanview Resort and Casino, would have 396 total rooms—268 declared condominium units and 128 hotel rooms—and 30,000 square feet of casino/banquet area.

Press secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. said the Bridge Investment project shows that the CNMI can attract investment capital if only the federal government allows it reasonable access to workers, tourists, investors and customers.

“For the CNMI economy to recover, the federal government must amend current federal policies and provide economic relief,” he said.

Bridge Investment projects to create 936 new jobs on Tinian.

Through the project, it will be able to contribute an average of $706,800 in total monthly gaming tax revenue for Tinian, which still does not include increased employee fees, gaming device fees and service industry license fees, among other things. This represents a 228-percent increase in the Tinian gaming tax.

Because of the investment, Bridge Investment projects $92 million in annual Tinian tourist revenue.

But Mendiola-Long said these “economic forecasts are based only on continued access to the China tourist market and any subsequent changes to the ease of access to that market will negatively impact these current projections.”

The Marianas Visitors Authority earlier said the CNMI stands to lose $183 million in economic opportunities as a result of the federalization of local immigration in June and the loss of the Chinese and Russian tourists.

Tinian, which is allowed to have five casinos and relies heavily on Chinese tourists, has only one operating casino—the Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino.

Three licenses have been issued to different sets of investors to put up a casino, and Bridge Investment is among them. It secured a license in 2005. It is the only one that has started, then halted, construction.

It hired the China-based Tianyuan Construction Group to build the project on 75,000 square feet of land that the company has leased for 55 years.

The other two investors are the Marianas Resort Development Corp., which plans to build a $300 million Matua Bay Resort, and Neo Gold Wings Paradise Saipan Corp. which plans to construct a $200 million hotel-casino.