Last spring we read with guarded interest both the March 3 and March 10, 2016 editions of the Beacon, the latter featuring a front-page story on the $42-million-plus Lambert/Elizabeth Beach makeover. The March 3 edition offered a short brief titled “Resort plans” which referred to Fabio Arduini as owner of the resort, but he is neither the sole nor the majority shareholder. He holds 40 percent of the shares of the company Elizabeth Beach Resort Ltd., which owns the resort, but his brother Marco and sister Sylvia each own 30 percent.
As owners of three Phase II beachfront condos at Lambert since 2005, we would have expected to be invited to see the plans or, at the very least, have been e-mailed a copy, as were some who have no stake whatsoever in Lambert. We might also have expected one of the savvy realtors or reporters at the unveiling reception on March 3, 2016 to have asked Mr. Arduini how he intended to achieve a five-star resort with so much private ownership scattered throughout the property.
Previous plans
At least when Mark Vanterpool’s Greenfield Property Holdings attempted a similar upgrade in 2006, they had the good sense to offer to buy out all of the private property holders.
We also wonder why no mention was made of the covenants, the binding contract agreement between EBR and its private owners. Among many other things, these covenants state, “No lot shall be re-subdivided,” although Mr. Arduini’s plans clearly call for a new subdivision for 26 luxury villas.
It should also be pointed out that during the painful three years of liquidation the property was partially restored and adroitly managed by then company director and Lambert engineer Victor Martac. When EBR regained the resort in late 2012, the property was not “weed-ridden, rundown and partly ‘abandoned’” as Fabio Arduini reportedly told the Beacon at the time. Today’s resort fits that description more aptly. With a skeleton but loyal staff and zero resources, Mr. Martac brought Lambert back from the dead so that the Arduini family had a going resort upon reacquisition of title.
No lessons learned?
We had hoped that some lessons had been learned from the past mistakes and short-sightedness at Lambert and that ownership and management would devise a successful means of co-existence between private property holders and a five-star resort. Unfortunately, past experience and the current state of the renovation at Lambert proffer little cause for optimism. Although the hotel is closed, there are many owners and/or tenants in residence who are being denied their entitlements. The swimming pool has stood empty for months without explanation, and the restaurant is gutted and empty. The tennis court is a wreck, and the “clubhouse” is packed with furniture. There will be no movies tonight!
Missed deadlines
The first phase of this “five-star makeover” was scheduled to start last June and be completed last October. That is likely the first of many deadlines to go unmet. The latest promised reopening date is October 2017. Many are left to wonder if the resort will ever reopen at all.
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