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Pete A: Best Sunshine eyeing 3 sites
Best Sunshine International Ltd. is already eyeing three tracts of lands on Saipan where it will build parts of its $7.1-billion integrated casino resort project, according to Public Lands Secretary Pete A. Tenorio yesterday.
These areas include public lands adjacent to DFS Saipan Limited property in Garapan, public lands previously offered to Sunshine 100 in Marpi, and public lands in Naftan Point.
DFS Saipan previously eyed the Garapan public land, as it earlier wanted to build a 350-room luxury resort hotel near the former Samoan housing. The luxury retailer was supposed to combine private land it already owned and public land to build the facility.
DFS Saipan reportedly has allocated its private land to Best Sunshine, which is why the latter is now eyeing the public land in Garapan that has access to the beach.
The Marpi public land, meanwhile, was previously offered to Sunshine 100 but the company opted to lease private land north of the property. DPL also offered the 99.005-square-meter area to South Korean company E-Land.
Naftan Point is the southern tip of Saipan and is relatively close to the Coral Ocean Point golf course.
Tenorio said he recently met with local executives of Hong Kong-based Best Sunshine to discuss the land leases it’s eyeing and other pertinent matters.
“We talked about progress we’ve made so far and what we’re going to do next to make sure we’re moving ahead,” he said.
Best Sunshine is planning to construct 4,200 hotel rooms and 300 villas on the island. The plan also involves the construction of a 600-seat theater, a 10,000-square-meter casino floor, 10,000-square-meter retail area, over 20 F&B outlets, and a theme park.
The company’s multi-billion dollar developments on Saipan are expected to employ as much as 9,000 people for the project, up from the original estimates of 5,000.
