What Happened to Baccarat 
“I’ve been noticing an uptick over the past 30 days from visitors who have viewed my blog while searching for information on the Baccarat Hotel located within the Temanos Anguilla development project. Normally a story that I wrote months ago wouldn’t receive much interest day after day like this one has. It got me thinking though - what is going on with this project?
Originally announced in January of 2008, it was supposed to be the hotel component of Flag Luxury Properties Temenos Anguilla resort property. Originally to be branded as a St Regis (when the project was announced in 2004) it apparently ended up being changed to a Baccarat Hotel & Residences location. The hotel was supposed to be finished by the end of the year - but from what I’ve heard from a few locals who have emailed me, it’s nowhere near being finished (can someone update me on that fact?).
Once the initial announcement was made a website immediately went live - www.baccaratanguilla.com, and I expected to see over time additional components added to it - pictures, descriptions, condo layouts - but instead the website went completely inactive over the summer. Additionally, the BaccaratHotels.com page redirected to the main Temanos Anguilla website rather than the BaccaratAnguilla.com site. Now, the BaccaratHotels.com site doesn’t even link to or mention anything about Baccarat Anguilla. The Temanos Anguilla website now has no mention of the Baccarat branded hotel, all references to it have been removed.
What happened?
Barry Sternlicht and Robert FX Sillerman - the principal behind Flag Luxury Properties have a history of working together on projects. Barry was still a part of Starwood Hotels when the St Regis was initially announced for the Anguilla project, and they are both principals in Riv Acquisition Holdings - the company that owns a portion of and is trying to take over the Riveria Casino in Las Vegas, so its not like Baccarat and Flag Luxury had a relationship like most other developers/hotel companies.
I was all set to just write this off to another casualty of the problems with getting credit - Starwood Capital isn’t exactly going gangbusters opening up their new brands like they were initially expected too - but then I came across a comment posted to my blog earlier today which inferred that the project has financial difficulties - with the management some how misleading the property owners about some aspect of the project. (Maybe that the centerpiece component a Baccarat Hotel will no longer be a part of the development?)
So it still could be a simple issue due to the credit crisis, or it could be a more underlying issue with the way business is being conducted at the property (which I hope is not the case - since Flag Luxury is a reputable company).
No matter what the real reason is - it sounds like Baccarat is permanently out of the equation for the
We’ll see what the future holds for this property.”
Little does he know what a disaster it all is. And, it all happened long before the present downturn in the economy. It has to do with bad planning, the bane of all development in Anguilla today. Bad planning in every sense of the word. Bad management follows closely on the heels of bad planning in explaining what happened at Flag.
We shall see if this project has any future at all.
Meanwhile, the bush is rapidly growing back over the recently abandoned golf course.
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