Garry Olsen, an experienced property developer from upstate New York, first visited Tobago as part of an international hotel consultancy 40 years ago. In subsequent visits to the island, he spotted some flat land on the windward side of the island in the community of Roxborough and thought to himself that it would make a great development.
Olsen’s vision for a property development on the oceanfront at Roxborough was unveiled last month when the multinational hospitality company, Hilton, announced the signing of Elephant Tree Resort and Villas Tobago, the first Tapestry Collection by Hilton hotel on the island, scheduled to open in 2028.
The all-in cost of the project—including a private wastewater treatment plant, water storage and land acquisition—is TT$350 million, which is about US$52 million.
The resort comprises 40 hotel rooms and 126 fully furnished villas, available for sale, with 88 three-bedroom units and 38 two-bedroom units, all of which will face more than 1,000 feet of oceanfront.
The branded villas will offer buyers the opportunity to join an optional rental programme that will allow them to add their units to the hotel’s inventory.
Already, 40 of the 126 villas, with a current price range of between US$400,000 and US$650,000, have been ”spoken for,” said Olsen, in an interview with the Business Guardian last Thursday.
The construction of the villas is underway, with the first block of residences expected to be completed in between 90 and 120 days. The property developer said the project is expected to generate between 100 and 150 construction jobs and some 200 to 250 permanent jobs.
“One of the key points that affects the desire to buy the units for Trinidadians is the fact that they are able to buy the units with TT dollars, but if they’re in the rental programme, they will be getting their income back US dollars, which we all know is a bit of an issue down here. This is a very good way to convert TT dollars into US dollars,” he said.
Executing his vision for the property did not come easily or quickly for Olsen.
He acquired 22 acres of land at Roxborough in four parcels in 2005 and 2006.
In June 2008, a company called Saints Development Company Ltd mortgaged 20 acres “more or less” of the land for a loan of US$1.65 million from Clico Investment Bank (CIB), at an interest rate of 12 per cent per annum.
The CIB mortgage agreement, which is available on the website of the Companies Registry, indicates that the loan was meant to be used for the construction of 24 townhouses. The project also had a contractor’s all risk policy in the amount of $14 million, which was issued by Bankers Insurance.
CIB, which was part of the CL Financial group that collapsed in 2009, was placed in compulsory liquidation by the Deposit Insurance Corporation in October 2011. Olsen “fully satisfied” the outstanding liability on the loan in April 2021, according to a Companies Registry filing.
At the time of the signing of the CIB mortgage agreement, the sole shareholder of Saints Development Company was Howard Webbe, described as a retired army officer of Scarborough.
Olsen and his then-business partner Paul Glotzbecker became directors of the company in September 2006. Before that date, the shareholders and directors of Saints Development Company were Ian McLachlan, a former executive at Angostura, the rum and bitters company, and his wife.
In interviews last week, Olsen disclosed that he bought out Webbe and Glotzbecker.
In March 2021, Saints Development entered into a project loan agreement with the Home Mortgage Bank (HMB) for $65.81 million to repay the CIB debt in the amount of $6.58 million, to complete the infrastructure works and construct 126 townhouses and pay professional fees of $59.23 million.
The HMB upsized the 2021 loan with an additional revolving loan facility of $45 million at seven per cent interest rate in August 2023.
In the first quarter of 2024, HMB and T&T Mortgage Finance were merged to become T&T Mortgage Bank.
“I do want to shout out HMB, which is now TTMB. They have been our financing partner since the beginning and they have been a good partner. They have worked with us and they continue to work with us. They are our base financing, though we are currently about to enter into financing agreements going forward with some of the other players, such as Guardian Holdings and ANSA Merchant Bank.”
The property developer is also in the process of nailing down the benefits that all hotel developments are entitled to under T&T’s laws.
“The duty exemptions and tax-free benefits are supposed to be an as-of-right benefit that came under the 2000 Tourism Act. We are happily looking forward to working with the new minister of tourism and the new finance minister.
“We had submitted applications numerous times in the past that just sat,” Olsen said, clarifying that they had submitted the duty and tax-free applications to ministers in the previous administration “at least three, if not four times.”
The property developer said all of the approvals for the Tobago project were generated in Trinidad.
“We have asked the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) for assistance on a couple of small matters and we are waiting to see follow through on that.
Asked why no member of the THA had spoken about the project before the Hilton announcement, Olsen said he could not under the THA’s silence on the Roxborough development because he has met with THA chief secretary Farley Augustine “numerous times,” including at the Tobago day in Brooklyn.
“I can’t answer that. You would have to ask him why. It’s been a kind of a secret all along. I don’t know whether they did not believe that we were going to do the Hilton franchise.
“We were originally going to do a Choice Hotel Ascend Collection franchise, but then the THA made a deal to buy an Ascend Collection for the Manta Lodge in Speyside. We did not feel comfortable with having two of the same franchises roughly seven miles apart and on totally different scales. So that’s why we exited the Choice franchise. Ascend Collection is quite a few steps lower than the Tapestry by Hilton franchise.
“And our concern was, if somebody made a reservation at the Manta Lodge for, say, US$400 a night and stopped at our property, which they would come to first of all, and we’d be saying, ‘No, you don’t have a reservation here. And by the way, the rate is US$800 a night.’ It was not going to be a good situation. Now whether the confusion about those franchises quieted the THA a little bit, I do not know the answer to that.”