{"id":216390,"date":"2015-12-10T06:06:11","date_gmt":"2015-12-09T20:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=216390"},"modified":"2015-12-10T06:06:11","modified_gmt":"2015-12-09T20:06:11","slug":"bsi-kan-pacific-strikes-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/bsi-kan-pacific-strikes-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"BSI, Kan Pacific strike deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>
From left, Joseph Iacopino, special counsel for Kan Pacific Saipan; Yoshihiro Kitami, president of Kan Pacific Saipan; and Mark A Brown, CEO of Best Sunshine International, Ltd. (Contributed Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nA deal has been struck between Best Sunshine International, Ltd. and the owners of Mariana Resort and Spa to assign the remaining lease years of the resort\u2019s coveted Marpi lands to the Saipan casino operators, according to a Best Sunshine statement yesterday.<\/p>\n

The statement is bereft of any details about a price tag for this deal, and appears to cool the controversy surrounding the Department of Public Lands decision to bid out the resort lands\u2014which Best Sunshine has said it will compete for.<\/p>\n

The Best Sunshine statement said the agreement was reached and signed by Mark A. Brown, Best Sunshine CEO, and Yoshihiro Kitami, Kan Pacific Saipan president. The agreement essentially provides that Kan Pacific will assign its remaining lease on the lot to the Saipan casino and will continue to operate the Mariana Resort & Spa \u201cfor at least a year,\u201d the casino said.<\/p>\n

Kan Pacific\u2019s 40-year lease ends in April 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe parties intend to work together to support Best Sunshine\u2019s efforts to obtain a new lease on the land,\u201d the casino statement adds.<\/p>\n

As for the resort\u2019s staff, the casino said the parties have agreed to work together for \u201cmaximum employment opportunities for current employees.\u201d<\/p>\n

A call to Mariana Resort general manager Gloria Cavanagh yesterday to confirm the news was not immediately returned as of press time.<\/p>\n

The administration of Gov. Eloy S. Inos also held off on any comments. \u201cAt this time, the administration declines to comment until we are furnished a copy of the agreement,\u201d said press secretary Ivan Blanco yesterday.<\/p>\n

The Best Sunshine statement said it is Kan Pacific\u2019s intention to establish a new hotel on Saipan. The parties have discussed the possibility of the new hotel being on the same land \u201cor some other suitable location,\u201d the casino said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result of a decision to enter into discussions about our mutual interests and the interests of the CNMI community, Best Sunshine and Kan Pacific have reached an agreement to work together on a plan that would further our mutual interests and the interests of the Commonwealth,\u201d the casino statement said.<\/p>\n

The announcement comes nearly a month after Kan Pacific held a rally to garner public support for an extension of their lease. That rally drew hundreds and was led by Kan Pacific founder Nauki Kitami, his nephew and now Kan Pacific president Takami, and resort GM Cavanagh.<\/p>\n

DPL\u2019s announcement to open the competitive bidding for the Marpi land came a week after on Nov. 20.<\/p>\n

Rep. Vincent Sablan (Ind-Saipan), author of a House resolution encouraging DPL to negotiate a new lease for Kan Pacific, said the news came as a surprise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never left out the possibility of Kan Pacific selling, considering everything that they have been put through,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sablan said the decision to seek competitive bids for the property \u201cchanged the entire tone of the situation.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cI hope that this instance does not affect the investments of the next hotels whose leases are coming up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sablan said he has the resort staff in mind and hopes that the casino will stick to its word about providing \u201cmaximum employment opportunities\u201d to current employees. \u201cOtherwise, I hope that they will be able to find employment to continue to support their families.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was truly an honor to stand side by side with Kan Pacific, its staff and the Kitami family.\u00a0 It\u2019s not easy to say goodbye to 37 years of friendship and service to our island.\u00a0 We appreciate them for all they have done for our island through the years and, most importantly, for sticking with us through thick and thin. \u2026We will miss Kan Pacific, and I\u2019m sure it will never be the same for many of us, but we must also respect their decision,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The lands currently out for bid includes lots used for racecar tracks, mini golf courses, and the Marpi hotel itself, its cottages, villas, and maintenance and sports facilities, and other vacant lands held by Kan Pacific Saipan.<\/p>\n

The total property amounts to 1.61 million square meters.<\/p>\n

Best Sunshine officials have said that they plan to build world\u2019s largest waterpark, 20 hotels, and a one-kilometer long shopping strip in the area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A deal has been struck between Best Sunshine International, Ltd. and the owners of Mariana…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":216396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[1707,1311,256,5770],"class_list":["post-216390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","tag-best-sunshine-international","tag-bsi","tag-casino","tag-kan-pacific-saipan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216390","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\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}