by Richard Coulson
First published in The Tribune, May 1, 2018.
For well over a year Bahamians have watched with bemusement the looming structure rising at the junction of Gladstone Road and JFK Highway. Last June the press informed us, yes, an IMAX projection facility plus eight regular movie houses were being built, as the starring element in a vast entertainment/hospitality/ restaurant center known as Fusion Superplex covering some 100,000 square feet Photos of the four young Bahamian entrepreneur-founders were shown, who had raised $42 million, together with an artist’s rendering of the impressive façade overlooking Lake Cunningham.
Not much more was heard until this year’s February 2 story eyeing an April 20 opening, for which construction work was being boosted to 24 hour shifts. Clearly, the effort was not enough. April 20 has come and gone, with hard-hat workers stills scuttling like busy ants, scaffolding being moved from one wall to another, and no paved entrance drive or parking lot yet replacing the dirt trucking ramps.
No announcement of the delay was made, or any indication of a new date. Although continuing work is visible to all passing motorists, ever-skeptical Bahamians are joking about taking the kids to the movies only to find the doors still shut. Always favorable to writing about any new venture, I have often asked for a site visit and interview with the principals, but have been rebuffed by their public relations lady, a strict gate-keeper saying “we aren’t ready.”
Oh well, together with the kids, I can wait to see my first IMAX film.
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Mr. Coulson has had a long career in law, investment banking and private banking in New York, London, and Nassau, and now serves as director of several financial concerns and as a corporate financial consultant. He has recently released his autobiography, A Corkscrew Life: Adventures of a Travelling Financier.
