Mullet Bay deal ratified
PHILIPSBURG--The Mullet Bay saga has finally come to an end. After eleven years filled with legal battles between SunResorts Ltd. N.V. and the Mullet Bay Apartments Association (MBAA), Judge Frans Vennix ratified a settlement Monday afternoon in which the apartment owners will sell their property for prices ranging from US $44,000 to $110,000.
The flagship resort in Mullet Bay was destroyed by Hurricanes Luis and Marilyn in 1995. Since then the resort has lain in ruins whilst SunResorts Ltd. N.V. and MBAA fought in court over its future.
SunResorts was granted a moratorium on payment on April 9, 1997, which was renewed several times. Parties agreed on July 14 to settle the matter and to terminate all other court cases that were still pending in St. Maarten and in New York.
The majority of the apartment owners and 17 other creditors voted in favour of an agreement submitted by Mullet Bay and its trustees on August 21. Only seven apartment owners voted against the agreement. The settlement with the 263 Mullet Bay apartment owners consists of a sale price of US $110,000 per two-bedroom suite, $66,000 per one-bedroom suite, and $44,000 per twin-unit apartment.
In addition to the cash payment, MBAA will also receive a release from SunResorts for its claim of $9 million. SunResorts loaned this sum to the rental pool years ago for the refurbishing of the units. On top of the $9 million, SunResorts will also pay $3 million interest.
The apartment owners will also receive $10,000 in damages for a two-bedroom suite, $6,000 for a one-bedroom suite, and $4,000 for a twin-unit apartment.
This payout will be in exchange for a transfer to SunResorts of all the unit owners’ rights, titles and interest in and to the units, the land, Foundation for Protection of Tourism, the litigations, insurance proceeds, funds in Court and any other claims asserted by MBAA.
Judge Vennix established Monday that the vast majority of the creditors had voted for the agreement, and noted that no complaints about the settlement had been filed in Court or with the trustees since August 21. After trustee Arnold Huizing stated that the trustees were also in favour, the judge declared the settlement to be “final and definitive.”
“Now you can get started with the restructuring of the resort and with cleaning up the dilapidated resort,” Vennix told SunResorts’ Chief Financial Officer Abdallah Androwas after the ratification of the settlement.
Androwas remained tight-lipped about the future of Mullet Bay. He denied there were any plans to redevelop the resort at this moment. Nor could he say when the ruins of the old apartments and other buildings would be cleared.
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