BSI-linked company acquires Vestcor Village

A company associated with Saipan casino investor Best Sunshine International, Ltd. acquired a property in the CNMI, a business move that leaves most of the current tenants only about a month to look for new homes.

Vestcor Village, located in Isa Drive going up Capitol Hill, was recently sold to Colour Palace (CNMI) LLC, a company linked to BSI.

In an interview, prior manager Frank Stroh confirmed the sale to Saipan Tribune and said that it was closed on March 11—the same day as termination notices were given out.

“The previous owner of Vestcor resides in the mainland. Negotiations with Best Sunshine have been long term with no knowledge of when a sale may take place,” Stroh said.

Stroh said Vestcor is currently at around 90 percent occupancy with most of their tenants on a month-to-month lease.

“The new company, Colour Palace, has issued 30-day termination notices. Consideration of extending that time can be given by the new owner only,” Stroh said.

Asked why Vestcor has decided to sell the property, Stroh said, “The information of any sale is confidential between seller and buyer.”

A copy of the notices given to residential tenants last Friday, March 11, was obtained by Saipan Tribune.

It informed residents about the selling of the property and stated that Colour Palace is now the landlord of the current tenants.

“Colour Palace will exercise its options, when they become available upon closing, to terminate all existing residential leases,” the notice stated.

The notice stated that rent checks must now be made payable to East Gain Property Management, Inc. East Gain Global (CNMI) Ltd. was linked to the sale of Flame Tree Terrace last year.

Colour Palace

Called for comments, Colour Palace’s authorized representative and who will act as the overall manager for Vestcor, Alice Abueme, told Saipan Tribune to contact the main office, which she said was BSI.

According to the CNMI Department of Commerce, Colour Palace was registered April 6, 2015, with former Northern Marianas College president Carmen Fernandez listed as its registered agent.

The phone number registered for Colour Palace was also a BSI office number.

When called, BSI’s legal department said that Colour Palace is indeed under BSI, however, legal counsel Viola Alepuyo, in a separate call, said she doesn’t have information on the matter.

Other emails sent to BSI were also unanswered as of press time.

Homeless

Due to the sale, several tenants are worried about where they will find new homes especially since there has been a shortage of available units on Saipan since the rise of developments as well as the destruction of Typhoon Soudelor.

A tenant who declined to be named commented that it was how the sale and the notices were made that were bothersome as they will have to move out of their homes in the middle of the month.

A tenant noted that no prior announcements were made regarding the sale and it was only through the 30-day notice that they were informed that they would have to move out.

Saipan Tribune learned that there are also BSI employees currently residing on Vestcor that will also be kicked out of their homes.

According to its website, Vestcor Village is located on 20,000 square meters of land and still has a 3,500-square meter parcel available for further development.

The village consists of 60 apartments in 15 buildings—58 two bedroom-one bath apartments and two three bedroom-two bath apartments. It has a commercial building with 10 deluxe offices and one mini-brewery building with an adjacent restaurant, a 4,000-square-foot retail store, a 2,720-square-foot warehouse, a 2,720-square-foot employee barracks, including two single apartments, among other features and amenities such as a playground and swimming pool.