The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman developer Michael Ryan said Saturday he does not own the SafeHaven property, and even though he would like to purchase it, there are no plans for a North Sound to Seven Mile Beach waterway.
The denial came after two recent reports in Cayman Net News stated that either Mr. Ryan or the Ritz-Carlton Resort had purchased the SafeHaven including the Links at SafeHaven Golf Course.
Mr. Ryan said both articles were wrong.
‘I don’t own it,’ Mr. Ryan said of SafeHaven. ‘We’ve been interested in acquiring the property for many years. We hope something can be worked out, but we have not acquired it yet.’
The SafeHaven property is situated immediately north of the Ritz-Carlton property. Mr. Ryan said because of its location, SafeHaven is of natural interest to the Ritz-Carlton.
Mr. Ryan staunchly denied that he was proposing a waterway from the North Sound to Seven Mile Beach as reported in Net News.
‘There are no – and nor have there ever been – any plans to create a canal linking Seven Mile Beach to the North Sound,’ he said.
The Net News cited a prospectus that was distributed by a company called Orion Developers Ltd. as its source for the proposed waterway.
‘There is no prospectus and nothing has been distributed,’ Mr. Ryan said.
Net News also reported in a separate article that part of the Links at SafeHaven Golf Course could be used for a dolphinarium. The article, which also stated Mr. Ryan had already purchased SafeHaven, cited un-attributed speculation that nine holes of the golf course would be added to the existing Ritz-Carlton golf course to create an 18-hole golf course. Net News said it was rumoured that the other nine holes of the Links at SafeHaven would be used as a new site for the dolphinarium.
Mr. Ryan called the article fantasy.
‘There is no plan, nor has there ever been, to put a dolphinarium at the site,’ he said, noting the clear denial of the rumour by one of the principals of Dolphin Discovery Cayman Limited did not seem to impact the reporting of it by Net News.
Mr. Ryan said no one from Cayman Net News attempted to contact him about the matter before printing the article.
‘I have noticed that ever since I stopped advertising in the Net News, that they seem to miss no opportunity, real or imagined, to try and raise controversy around myself and the [Ritz-Carlton] project,’ he said.
Mr. Ryan said he could not comment on any plans he had for the SafeHaven Golf Course because he did not own it.
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