Something special's happening in the heart of Nassau, Bahamas.
The first major real estate investment in downtown Bay Street in recent years, the multi million dollar renovation of the Moses Plaza, is moving ahead with 70 percent of the retail space already leased.
This is no ordinary real estate upgrade.
It's a whole new spin on the role the city of Nassau will play in the coming decades.
It's designed to breathe new life into the ailing city, doing away with the concept that Bay Street should be on a 9am-5pm cycle.
Businessman Charles Klonaris and his brothers are taking the bold step of initiating the transformation of the run down section of Bay Street east into a vibrant shopping and eating area.
They're creating a picturesque harbour side esplanade, bordered by a restaurant foyer and with views of Paradise Island.
Haagan Dazs, Dunkin Donuts and Sundrop Creations, a unique Bahamian craft store, already have their names on the plaza's store frontage.
With the scheduled move of the container shipping facilities from Bay Street to Arawak Cay to the west, Klonaris envisages a ferry terminal for moving visitors to and from Paradise Island.
It's to house permanent exhibitions of two extremely popular excursions – Dolphin Encounters at the Blue Lagoon island north of Paradise, and Stuart Cove's fabulous dive programme in the south west.
Both operations will have docking facilities.
The Moses Plaza is near Elizabeth Avenue and may be renamed Elizabeth on Bay.
The development is close to Klonaris' heart. As chairman of the Nassau Tourism Development Board and a Bay Street property owner, he's put long hours into working towards a revival of the area.
Klonaris sees the future of downtown as being inextricably linked to the harbour. After all, the cruise ship terminal is right there. And, perhaps as a way around traffic congestion, he feels water transportation will play a big role in the life of the city.
The Moses Plaza redevelopment will hopefully be completed by early 2010.
It will be the forerunner to the Bahamas government/private sector initiative to revitalise the city.
The government itself plans to extend the properties on the Bay Street waterfront to allow for a pedestrian promenade, but plans have yet to be finalised.
So, much in the way that urban planner Edward Logue put a new face on Boston's Faneuil Hall, the Klonaris Brothers may well be the spark that ignites the revitalisation of downtown Nassau.
For those of us who watched the lovely Old Lady called Bay Street suffer from neglect and the ravages of time, this is an exciting period.
Source - Tribune Business
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