The Nova Scotia government has finally found a buyer for one of its provincially owned resorts.
The new owner of the famed Digby Pines Golf Resort and Spa hopes to take possession of the property as early as Saturday.
Halifax developer Basim Halef, owner of Banc Properties, says he brought together a consortium to acquire the business from the provincial government. In a phone interview from a course in Florida, the avid golfer told me that the Pines golf course is what first attracted him to the deal.
Halef said he will be the majority partner in the new ownership arrangement but Glenn Squires, CEO of Pacrim Hospitality, is the president of the numbered company that acquired the property, and Bear River First Nation is also part of the ownership team.
“I think it has a good reputation as a resort,”
said Halef, adding there are plans for some needed renovations to the
90-year-old resort.
He declined to disclose the price paid for The Pines.
A deal to sell the provincially owned resort had been rumoured to have been reached in March but the province was reported to be waiting to complete its due diligence before finalizing the sale.
The province has owned the Digby Pines Golf Resort and Spa since 1965. It was one of two resorts the province had on the market – the other being the Liscombe Lodge Resort and Conference Centre on the Eastern Shore, which is still owned by the province.
It is not clear whether Halef’s organization is the same one the government identified as it “preferred proponent” it was negotiating with in December 2018.
The participation of Bear River First
Nation in the new ownership arrangement has some observers to speculate that
the plans for the resort may include adding a casino someday, but that was not
addressed by Halef during the phone call on Friday.
Between 2003 and 2006, $7.7 million was spent by
the province on golf course improvements, air conditioning and new spa and
meeting facilities. In 2012, it spent another $1.3 million on upgrades to
furniture, fixtures and equipment.
