A ‘masterplan’ for a new marina, port and village in Cayman Brac will pave the way for an inter-island ferry service, according to the project developer.
Internet entrepreneur Frank Schilling is in the final stages of preparing a Planned Area Development application for his ‘passion project’ on the Brac.
A detailed masterplan for ‘Port Zeus’ shared with the Compass outlines ambitious and potentially controversial proposals to carve an inland safe harbour on Schilling’s land adjacent to Scott’s Dock.
The project would create a marina for yachts and sailing boats, as well as the potential for a car ferry from Grand Cayman. Schilling has shared the broad outline of his plans with government and hopes to seek regulatory approval later this year.
It also includes a small village with condos, shops, bars and restaurants surrounding the water. Schilling believes it will help kickstart a new era of tourism on the Brac and bring jobs and greater connectivity between the three islands. He said it would allow inter-island travel and greater access from the Brac to Little Cayman
He aims to “give away” some of his land to create an 8-acre inland safe harbour. Fishermen and boaters will be able to use, purchase, or rent boat moorings in the harbour and marina while there will be spaces dedicated for larger cargo ships and possibly a ferry.
The Department of Environment has yet to review the plans which would likely require an environmental impact assessment, as well as coastal works and planning approvals.
Schilling accepts there will be opponents to his proposal but believes it is in the best interests of Cayman and in particular the Sister Islands.
He described it as relatively small in scale, likening it to projects at Rose Islands in the Bahamas and Harbour Town in Hilton Head, South Carolina.
His primary inspiration however is the Greek islands. He envisages a beach club and restaurant alongside town homes and condos with locally-quarried stone providing an upmarket architectural aesthetic.
PAD application
The project could take two decades to roll out and could eventually span nearly 100 acres, he said.
Schilling is seeking a PAD which will include restrictive covenants to ensure continuity of design. He insisted he wants to work with the community on the project and various phases of the development will be stratified with businesses and investors co-owing residential and commercial units.
“It takes a village to build a village,” he said.
He is also planning on-shore support facilities and the Brac’s first sewage treatment plant.
The kind of alterations of land and sea proposed by Schilling are often controversial – particularly so, in recent times where the pace and scope of development have caused significant concerns about the negative impacts on Cayman’s ecosystem and way of life.
“With any development there are going to be people that don’t want it,” Schilling acknowledged. But he insisted the feedback he has received so far had all been good.
He believes there is room for the Brac to grow and that his port project can provide the kind of food security and supply chain continuity that will allow that to happen. He argues it will also enable the Brac to be a kind-of support island for Little Cayman, allowing stricter control of development on the smaller island, which is being proposed as a potential UNESCO World Heritage site.
“It is good for the country on every level,” he insisted.
“The ferry service will be a game changer; it will link daily food service and trash removal between Little Cayman and Cayman Brac and it will allow Little Cayman to remain pristine and unspoiled and allow all the support infrastructure for the island to reside on the Brac.”
Weekend tourism
The creation of an inland harbour will facilitate weekend tourism from Grand Cayman, he added.
“There are a lot of boats that could do the journey but there’s currently nowhere to safely dock or provision your boat,” he said.
“This will mean you can take off at 2pm on a Friday and be there by 5pm.”
Designs produced for Schilling by his team of architects and engineers show plans for 14 key elements to the project including the marina, beach club, pool and buildings for port and government use.
There are seven buildings of up-to five stories dotted around the marina with scope for shops, retail, restaurant and homes. In separate drawings, a larger piece of land adjacent to the site and opposite the quarry is earmarked for ‘future development’. Schilling has previously indicated a desire to site homes on that piece of property.
He believes the project could attract retirees from Grand Cayman and further afield and sees the potential for the Brac population to increase over time to more than 5,000.
The entrepreneur turned developer insists he is not in it for a fast buck. He said Port Zeus was a passion project partially styled after quiet coastal developments he has seen in Greece. He hopes to retire there himself eventually and sees it as something that will benefit the community.
“There is tremendous potential for the Sister Islands in this project,” he said, “I would be proud to be able to build this for the country, but ultimately we will move at the pace the country wants.”
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Excellent idea!!! A new and exciting form of staycation. I’ve often wondered why there was no ferry service between the islands. I bet it would also be attractive to visitors to Grand Cayman, to spend some days here then perhaps tack on another 3 days to go over to the Brac.