NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Three years ago, real estate visionary Mario Carey called for the creation of a regional disaster relief and recovery center that would fly into action the second a storm was predicted. The only problem — where to locate it.
Now, he said, he knows — a 62-acre site that includes every possible ingredient, existing warehouses, sprawling acreage and the most essential ingredient of all — vast waterfront to deploy recovery and relief vessels. The site is the former Bacardi rum distillery and operations center on the south-central side of New Providence.
“It’s no longer a matter of if, but when the next natural disaster will strike,” said Carey. “We cannot afford to run from what the experts tell us or hide from our new reality. Extreme weather conditions are becoming more frequent, the damage they leave in their wake more costly and the insurance industry, which already accounts for about 10 percent of the national economy in the United States, will one day not be able to keep up.”
That means, he said, it will be up to those with a need to find a means to clean up, rescue, recover and rebuild, and while the rebuilding will take time, immediate needs for survival cannot wait until sufficient lumber, labor and supplies arrive in hard-hit areas.
“All the data dating back to when storm records started to be kept shows that of all the islands in The Bahamas, New Providence is the best protected and least likely to be devastated by a hurricane,” Carey explained. “On New Providence, you cannot find another property that would be better suited to serve in a regional capacity for relief and recovery than the Bacardi plant.”
The plant, which ceased operations in 2009, has remained virtually untouched, a gem, said Carey, for a business with a social conscience. It was listed for sale with Better Homes & Gardens MCR Group, the company Carey founded, this month for $37 million.
“It is five minutes from the airport, has more than 1,200 linear feet of waterfrontage, over 400,000 square feet of interior square footage with well-built warehouses, has all the water, water-making and ice production capacity that you could ever need,” he said.
“It has space for a helipad, has its own fuel station and an existing six-story tower that can be converted into a command center.”
Carey is already working with international and local experts, mapping technology requirements to create a plan of action immediately acting on hurricane predictions. He is bringing together experts in technology, aviation, global recovery and will involve local NGOs as well as NEMA, Bahamas Red Cross and other emergency response units as the informal process becomes a formal steering committee.
“The site has good elevation and drainage. It has never flooded. With all the paved roads running throughout, there is space for excavation equipment, room to build dockage for barges to move that equipment as a need arises,” Carey said.
“There are massive, well-built aluminum tanks for fuel storage. It is the only industrial zoned property on the south side that also has 22 acres on the water, ideal for a shipyard and marina, all of which could feed into the relief and recovery operations.”
Carey, who in recent years has taken his super sales background into brokerage with a cause, envisions an operations command center that is created either through a joint venture or private enterprise with agreements in place between those who lease space and store supplies and those who manage the facility. No politics, no cost to government, he said.
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