Members Take Control of Baker’s Bay, the Discovery Land Golf Club in The Bahamas
Homeowner-members of Baker’s Bay Golf & Ocean Club on Great Guana Cay in The Bahamas have taken control of the club from its developers and acquired the marina, utility plant, and employee housing that support it. Discovery Land Company continues to manage the club.
Homeowner-members of Baker’s Bay Golf & Ocean Club, on Great Guana Cay in the Abaco islands of The Bahamas, have taken control of the club from its developers and acquired the marina, utility plant, and employee housing that keep the community running. Discovery Land Company continues to manage the club.
The turnover was announced in an Oct. 16 release from the law firm Foley & Lardner, which advised the members on the transaction. The release stated that the arrangement is “designed to support long-term operational continuity” while preserving the amenities and experience that define the community.
Baker’s Bay occupies a stretch of Great Guana Cay between the Sea of Abaco and the Atlantic Ocean. The club includes a Tom Fazio-designed 18-hole golf course, more than six miles of beachfront, a family beach club, spa and wellness facilities, and a 33-acre, 200-slip deep-water marina. Farallon Capital Management and Discovery Land Company developed the property. The club entity itself, Baker’s Bay Club Limited, was incorporated in The Bahamas on Dec. 14, 2004, to own and operate a golf, beach, tennis, spa, fitness, swim, and social club.
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The structure of the transaction appears in an adjudication from the Bahamas Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority, dated Aug. 26. The regulator received notice of the deal on June 30 and approved the change in control, on the condition that it be notified within seven days after the transaction closed. Two sellers, Baker’s Bay Investors, LLC, with 94.74 percent, and Discovery Baker’s Bay Investors, LLC, with 5.26 percent, agreed to sell their interests in Baker’s Bay Associates, LLC, which owns and controls the Baker’s Bay companies affiliated with the club. The buyer is Baker’s Bay Club Limited, a company limited by guarantee whose members are homeowners within the club. At the time of the filing there were 384 of them, and each will hold an equal interest. The regulator found that the shift to member ownership did not change market concentration.
The real estate significance can be easy to overlook in the legal detail. On a private island, the club owns facilities a municipality would ordinarily own. Baker’s Bay Utility Ltd., established in 2008, provides water, wastewater, electricity, telecommunications, internet, and fuel station services within the community, and it is the sole electricity supplier there. It recently switched its power generation from diesel to liquefied natural gas, and the regulator issued it licenses for that on June 12. By acquiring the utility, the marina, and the housing for the people who staff the club, the members now own the infrastructure beneath their own houses, not just the golf course and clubhouse amenities above it.
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Discovery Land’s model has generally been developer-built, developer-run clubs, and that side of the business is still growing. The Hills in East Quogue, New York, won zoning this month to sell up to 177 golf memberships to people who do not own homes there, and Territory 1889 in Lakeside, Montana, is still working through county approvals. Baker’s Bay shows a different stage of the same model, one that has matured into member ownership with Discovery staying on as manager. It is one club, not a pattern. When homeowners choose to own an island’s working parts as well as their houses, it is a sign of confidence in the place.
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