The owners of Baha Mar, a Caribbean resort project valued at more than $3.5 billion, filed for bankruptcy court protection in Delaware, blaming delays by the general contractor, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The four-hotel resort and golf complex, featuring the largest casino in the Caribbean and its own private island, was presented as the most significant tourism project in the history of the Bahamas. But disputes between the Swiss-Bahamian Izmirlian family, which runs Baha Mar, and a Chinese builder caused the project to miss its scheduled opening in March. Construction on Baha Mar, which was to open on March 27, remains unfinished and no new date has been set. The project is 97 percent complete, according to court papers. Baha Mar Ltd. listed unaudited assets of $3.1 billion and debt of about $2.7 billion in chapter 11 documents in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., where affiliate Northshore Mainland Services Inc. is incorporated.
