{"id":185437,"date":"2014-11-20T04:00:11","date_gmt":"2014-11-19T18:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=185437"},"modified":"2014-11-20T04:00:11","modified_gmt":"2014-11-19T18:00:11","slug":"bsi-president-ceo-says-cant-wait-get-started","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/bsi-president-ceo-says-cant-wait-get-started\/","title":{"rendered":"BSI president, CEO says he can\u2019t wait to get started"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Best<\/a>
Best Sunshine International Ltd. president and CEO Mark Anthony Brown joins Saipan reporters for an informal meet-and-greet at the Hyatt Regency Saipan yesterday. (Mark Rabago)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nBest Sunshine International Ltd. president and CEO Mark Anthony Brown arrived on island last Tuesday and is eager to hit the ground running on the company\u2019s $7.1-billion integrated casino resort project.<\/p>\n

However, he and BSI will just have to wait a little bit longer as the Commonwealth holds its runoff election for governor tomorrow and the release of the official results.<\/p>\n

Not that BSI is betting on a particular candidate to win. Brown said they willing to work with either Gov. Eloy S. Inos or his challenger in the runoff, former speaker Heinz S. Hofschneider.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it matters to us. The wait is frustrating and I want to get started. Our whole company does. \u2026There are so many things hinging on the election finally [being] over. So we can get answers from whoever that person is. So we can just move forward because everyone is so focused on that. We\u2019ve been patiently waiting,\u201d he said during a meet-and-greet with media yesterday at Hyatt Regency Saipan. <\/p>\n

The 53-year-old veteran casino executive said that Best Sunshine, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Pacific Imperial International Holdings Ltd., has already showed good faith by plunking down $41 million in investment in the CNMI even before a land lease has been executed. He said this also the primary reason he joined the company on Nov. 10.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason I joined is the $41 million they put out so far and $10 million is not for anyone else but for the people who live here. That\u2019s really it. Here\u2019s $10 million I want to pay your utilities for the next three months. Why? Who else would do that? This company did that to show good faith and we still don\u2019t have an answer. We still don\u2019t know where the land is coming. The $31 million we had to but the $10 million we didn\u2019t have to.\u201d <\/p>\n

At the moment, Brown will be commuting between Saipan and Hong Kong, but he promised to make Saipan his home once construction of the casino resort starts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started Nov. 10 and my entire week was listening to pitches from at least two architects a day in Hong Kong. I can\u2019t even say where, what, and how big it is. They\u2019re showing us four different designs of 100 rooms and 2,000 rooms.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he has already made the rounds of the island, looking at what public and private lands are available.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like the Garapan area because this is where the people are and most hotels [are situated]. This area is very nice but you couldn\u2019t build a big property here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown said land is the determining factor and, once the properties for BSI\u2019s development are identified, everything will fall into place. <\/p>\n

On a more personal note, the former Venetian Macao and Sands Macao president said he immediately fell in love with Saipan and being personally here has only magnified his infatuation. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just beautiful. I said it\u2019s God\u2019s country. Even before arriving and just seeing the pictures. It\u2019s more beautiful in person. Pictures usually give you an impression that \u2018this can\u2019t be real\u2019 and then you get here and it\u2019s actually more beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown said Saipan actually reminds him of his hometown because like Brigantine, New Jersey, which has Brigantine Avenue and Bayshore Avenue as its main thoroughfares, Saipan also has two main roads, Beach Road and Middle Road.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an island I\u2019m familiar with because I feel that I\u2019ve been born and raised here\u2026I feel like I\u2019m 12 years old riding my bike down the street and I\u2019m back home again. It feels very familiar to me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Best Sunshine International Ltd. president and CEO Mark Anthony Brown arrived on island last Tuesday…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":185452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[256,402,338,233],"class_list":["post-185437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-casino","tag-ceo","tag-hong-kong","tag-hyatt-regency-saipan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}