Paul Hastings LLP, a leading global law firm, announced today that the firm represented Baha Mar. Ltd., a resort hotel developer, in signing a series of management agreements with Hyatt Hotels Corporation, which will operate and manage Baha Mar’s planned 700-room Grand Hyatt convention hotel, Morgans Hotel Group, which will operate and manage Baha Mar’s planned 300-room luxury lifestyle hotel under the Mondrian brand, and Rosewood Hotels and Resorts, which will operate and manage Baha Mar’s planned 200-room luxury hotel.

 

At a cost of $3.5 billion, Baha Mar will include almost 3,500 rooms and residences, the largest casino in the Caribbean, the largest convention center in The Bahamas, a Jack Nicklaus signature golf course, three spas, a 20-acre eco-water park, multiple restaurants, high-end retail and entertainment venues, and will be situated along a half-mile of uninterrupted pristine beachfront. Baha Mar represents the largest single-phase resort ever developed in the Caribbean, and is currently the largest project under development in North America. The project is being financed by a $2.45 billion loan from China Export-Import Bank. The project is expected to open in December 2014. 

Real Estate partner and chair of the firm’s Resort, Restaurant & Recreation Practice Group, Rick Kirkbride, and associate Lauren Giovannone led the Paul Hastings team in this effort, which included associate Rachel Prandini and Of Counsel Mike Bradford. The Paul Hastings team will continue their work in this project as the casino, additional hotels, restaurant, retail, residential and other aspects of the project are developed including the structuring and creation of three condo-hotel regimes and a proposed timeshare project as well as implementing the sales of the condominium units and timeshare interests.