Mariana Resort & Spa is pursuing at least a $30-million added investment for a 25-year renewal of its public land lease that\u2019s expiring in April 2018 but the need for huge tracts of lands for a $3.14-billion integrated casino resort on Saipan could be a factor whether the lease extension plan would pan out.<\/p>\n
Gloria Cavanagh, general manager for Mariana Resort, said yesterday they have been waiting for the Department of Public Land\u2019s decision on their submitted draft proposal to renew the lease.<\/p>\n
DPL Secretary Pete A. Tenorio separately said yesterday \u201cno decision has been made to refer any new lease for Mariana Resort to the Legislature, nor an offer made yet to Best Sunshine for the land at Mariana Resort.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything is still a work in progress,\u201d Tenorio said.<\/p>\n
Any lease of public land consisting of more than 5 hectares requires the Legislature\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n
Terence Tay, chief operating officer for Saipan casino developer Best Sunshine International Ltd., said Mariana Resort was among the public land lessees and landowners they met with over possible sites for the casino resort.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of the discussions that we have with different landowners or lessees are going better than others; some of them are looking better than others,\u201d Tay said, without specifically commenting on the discussion with Mariana Resort.<\/p>\n
Cavanagh said Mariana Resort believes that a casino, if it comes to fruition on Saipan, would be good for the CNMI.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the best thing for the CNMI is to have the casino and Mariana Resort to [co-]exist,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Mariana Resort is the first major Japanese investor in the CNMI, Cavanagh pointed out. Mariana Resort marked its 36th year in April this year.<\/p>\n
Cavanagh said it is also important to note how the CNMI is treating its longtime foreign investors. <\/p>\n
\u201cEven though Japan is a crisis market today\u2026it\u2019s always best to have a good mixture of investments and markets in the CNMI,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Like other longtime foreign investors, Mariana Resort hopes that it won\u2019t be chased out of the CNMI.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t owe the government taxes. We are current with our [land] lease. We have been a good corporate citizen for 36 years,\u201d Cavanagh said.<\/p>\n
Other businesses whose public land leases are also expiring are looking at how DPL and the Legislature will treat the Mariana Resort land lease issue, because that could set the tone for their negotiations when time comes for them to also negotiate a renewal or extension of their leases.<\/p>\n
Rep. Anthony Benavente (Ind-Saipan), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, said DPL\u2019s lack of a decision on the Mariana Resort land lease could be because it is giving Mariana Resort and Best Sunshine ample time to discuss the property between them. But Benavente said this is only his opinion.<\/p>\n
Cavanagh said they are planning to invest a \u201cminimum of $30 million\u201d in the Mariana Resort for its proposed 25-year lease renewal.<\/p>\n
Part of that additional investment is the addition of 100 executive rooms. Right now, Mariana Resort in Marpi has 74 hotel rooms and 50 individual cottages.<\/p>\n
The casino law requires Best Sunshine to build a minimum of 2,000 \u201cnew\u201d guest rooms within an eight-year period.<\/p>\n
Cavanagh said the law is clear that the 2,000 rooms should be built from the ground up, and not just build on an existing hotel.<\/p>\n
But Best Sunshine could go beyond the 2,000 required rooms by investing in existing hotels. Anything developed out of existing hotels, however, won\u2019t count toward the required 2,000 \u201cnew\u201d rooms.<\/p>\n
Tay of Best Sunshine said the casino license agreement allows for phased development of the integrated casino resort.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look at the timeline, of eight years [to complete], the remaining three to four years [of Mariana Resort lease] don\u2019t go beyond eight years. It\u2019s right within the timeline we have to [meet] to finish the integrated resort,\u201d Tay said.<\/p>\n
Again, without singling out Mariana Resort, Tay said Best Sunshine continues to talk with different landowners and lessees. <\/p>\n
But Tay said he wants to point out that Best Sunshine is \u201creasonable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are trying to be reasonable in terms of acquiring land from certain people. \u2026At the end of the day, what we hope to achieve is going to benefit everyone on the island\u2014from the locals to other foreign investors to the local businesses and to the government,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Still, Best Sunshine has yet to lock in the lands it needs to build the integrated casino resort. The license agreement allows Best Sunshine \u201cup to three development sites.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat provision in the agreement is meant to address the challenges with the required land for the development amongst other things but it also gives us the flexibility to go beyond the minimum requirements,\u201d Tay said.<\/p>\n
When asked about the internal deadline to acquire land, Tay said it\u2019s \u201clast week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tay echoed other government officials\u2019 call for patience as they work on the development of an integrated casino resort on Saipan.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we are progressing quite positively but people have to understand that land acquisition does not take place overnight. It\u2019s going to take weeks or even months and the building of an integrated resort takes years,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, most of Best Sunshine\u2019s $30 million advance license fee payments have already been distributed by the CNMI government to retirees for their 25-percent pension covering nine months and to former and current government employees for payment of interest on their withdrawn NMI Retirement Fund defined benefit plan contributions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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