by Brian Major
Last updated: 7:46 PM ET, Thu March 19, 2015
Photo: Rooms at the $3.5 billion Baha Mar's flagship property will be ready March 27, with other properties to follow. (Photo courtesy of Baha Mar).
What's one more delay when you're launching a $3.5 billion mega-resort? Originally slated to debut four new hotels at its March 27 premiere, Bahamian mega-resort Baha Mar announced Thursday only one of its properties - the flagship Baha Mar Casino & Hotel - will have rooms available when the resort launches later this month.
Specifically, the Baha Mar Casino & Hotel, its casino, "core amenities," and entertainment and recreation areas, including its Beach Sanctuary and the Jack Nicklaus-designed TPC at Baha Mar golf course, will be open on March 27.
Three other hotels at the complex, SLS LUX at Baha Mar, Rosewood at Baha Mar and Grand Hyatt at Baha Mar, will have public areas and lobby bars open on available March 27 and "will welcome hotel guests shortly thereafter," according to a Baha Mar statement.
Pools, dining experiences, live entertainment and recreation areas, plus snorkeling, beach activities, and golfing at TPB at Baha Mar, will also launch on March 27.
"A project of this scope, at 3.3 million square feet, with four new hotels, 40 restaurants, bars and lounges, is designed for the long term, to create a lasting economic impact that will benefit our community and take the Bahamas to the next level on the international travel scene," said Baha Mar officials in the statement.
"As customary of a resort this size, we will open each resort element when it's ready to deliver on that promise," the statement continued. "Baha Mar will be a paced opening. We will be holding preview days for all of the hotels during April, and we expect all of our hotels to be opened by our grand opening festivities in May.
In February, Baha Mar officials insisted the mega-resort would open as scheduled on March 27. On February 9 officials issued a joint press statement with Perry Christie, the Bahamas' prime minister clarifying Christie's earlier statements in a local newspaper saying the resort would "[have] people ready by June 1."
"The June date refers to the grand opening celebrations which will take place this spring," the statement reads. "An exact date of those celebrations will be announced within the coming weeks."
Company officials announced in January that three properties - the Baha Mar Casino & Hotel, the Rosewood at Baha Mar, and SLS Lux at Baha Mar - would begin hosting "paid guests" on March 27 and the Grand Hyatt hotel would open "shortly thereafter."
The latest developments come months after company officials announced the resort's grand opening would be delayed to "late spring 2015," missing the original December 2014 opening date.
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