Building the first safe harbour in the Sister Islands of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman is no small feat, but the team at Port Zeus is more than united for the challenge.
“I’ve built and sold five companies now, and the key to success in any large project is great organisation, a strong and well-formed vision and a lot of love for people and creating the right thing,” says Frank Schilling, the founder of Port Zeus.
The process for getting a project like Port Zeus started is anything but linear. The team has been through several design updates and improvements as they worked to agree to the terms of reference (ToR) that govern the environmental impact assessment (EIA).
As of June 2024, the draft ToR has finally been agreed with the Department of Environment, and the Port Zeus project is now on a conveyer belt towards completing its EIA.
Serial entrepreneur and long-time Cayman resident Schilling is behind the proposal, which he believes will provide much-needed infrastructure and investment on Cayman Brac, and benefit the Cayman Islands as a whole.
“Agreeing a ToR means very little can jump out at you and derail the process once everyone understands the rules that will govern the EIA,” he says. “There are a hundred good reasons to have a safe harbour in Cayman Brac and it’s difficult to adequately describe the value a project like this will bring to every other property on the Sister Islands.
OASIS IN THE DESERT
Firstly, it’s a jumping-off point to service Little Cayman, keeping that island environmentally pristine. You don’t need a future airport, refrigeration, food infrastructure and warehouses on little Cayman when a daily boat service can bring goods and take out the trash.
“That’s great for Little Cayman,” says Schilling. “There are tremendous national security implications that go along with having a customs and border fleet at Port Zeus, protecting its islands and reinforcing our claim to our waters. I see the site akin to an oasis in the desert.
“Great food infrastructure, and the opportunity for fishing vessels, will have a massively positive impact on the health of the Sister Islands residents. There will be a lot more purchasing options and less expired food on store shelves. Residents will see more fresh seafood once a safe harbour exists to shelter a fishing fleet and bring fresh goods regularly. Food security is priceless.”
SCHILLING’S VISION
Schilling began investing in the Brac before COVID, but during the pandemic, and in the aftermath of the sale of his internet-related businesses, he found time to study the problems plaguing the Sister Islands.
He created the company Brac and Forth with the purpose of developing the existing port area at Scott’s Dock, on the northwest coast, where he will grow a sustainable marina community during the coming years.
Plans have been inspired by his trips to Greece, observing that the seafaring community there is often smaller than Cayman, but where island economies are vibrant because inter-island transportation is abundant. Safe harbours and the opportunities for a merchant fleet of vessels are the catalyst for that.
Port Zeus aims to encourage and promote Cayman Brac as a safe destination for visitors, as well as building upon the proud maritime heritage of the Cayman Islands, which is celebrated in its national motto ‘He hath founded it upon the seas’.
“It’s amazing to me that the Cayman Islands is a seafaring nation,” says Schilling. “We built boats here in the past, and were discovered by Christopher Columbus less than five miles from the proposed Port Zeus location, yet 522 years later, there is nowhere for a boat to stop and seek shelter. Columbus didn’t stop either.”
The ambitious plan aims to excavate more than eight acres of land that lie close to sea level, east of Scott’s Dock, to create an inland marina and an enclosed harbour that could accommodate a small fleet of fishing and pleasure vessels.
Schilling’s goal is to construct a facility that is small enough to be in keeping with the community, but large enough to provide real long-term utility to both Sister Islands.
FEEDBACK INVITED
The inlet to the marina will run north to south, just east of the Scott’s Dock pier. The current post office will become a future Port Authority site as it will be immediately adjacent to the waterway, and future Port Zeus ferry building, which will be sited in the present location of the Scott’s Dock office.
“I plan to move that Scott’s Dock office to a nearby location where it can be restored and reused or made a museum,” says Schilling. “Several of the Scott family were born in that home and it has a lot of great energy and history.”
Long-term employment will be created through new government jobs, government and private facilities, construction/management and new infrastructure works, which the marina, and the associated businesses intended to be located there, will foster and support.
Once completed in approximately two-and-a-half years after principal construction begins, the Port Zeus safe harbour will empower and enable a host of new tourism and commercial activities.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Large master-planned developments like Port Zeus are typically created to lease. Brac and Forth aims to sell pieces of its master plan to others in the community, and bring in other stakeholders to co- develop Port Zeus.
“I admire towns like Mission Viejo in California which were master-planned or designed by one man or group, and built out by many participants over time,” says Schilling. “Like a new town that gets born, which everyone helps to parent and raise. On an island of 1,500 people, you can’t impose a single-minded vision – everything evolves and happens at its own natural pace and has a tendency to evolve in a way that the community expects.
“I don’t know if in 20 years, people will remember who built Port Zeus, but they will know Port Zeus, and that’s fine by me. I just want to get it done in time for my grandkids to push my wheelchair around the harbour and go for ice cream.”
He reconsiders for a moment. “Well, maybe I can saunter next to their stroller,” he says.
LET YOUR OPINIONS BE HEARD AT THE ASTON RUTTY COMMUNITY CENTRE ON THURSDAY, 11 JULY 2024.
Community feedback about the proposed development is welcomed. Questions and suggestions should be emailed to [email protected] or visit portzeus.ky.
PORT ZEUS
‘He hath founded it upon the seas’
Christopher Columbus didn’t know it at the time, but he discovered the Cayman Islands on 10 May 1503, just a few miles to the west of Port Zeus. Thousands of explorers have since followed in his footsteps only to sail right past, just as he did.
The Cayman Islands has been blessed with good people and governance, but natural safe harbour to shield vessels from the sea has not been readily available, until now.
Port Zeus is a simple yet audacious project, designed to unlock the land of the Sister Islands and to give her citizens and residents access to the abundance of the sea.
Approximately 100 fully serviced, strata-titled moorings are envisioned to be a part of the Port Zeus harbour marina. Founding members will have the ability to purchase a boat mooring – a legacy for their vessel and for their families. Moorings at Port Zeus will have an abundance of fresh water, electricity, fuel services and sewerage.
For the first time in the recorded history of the Cayman Islands, boaters, yachtsmen and anglers will have the ability to add the western Caribbean as a port of call to their seafaring adventures. A town centre with small-town ambience, and a variety of retail, restaurants and residences will evolve over time, constructed in phases by our country’s leading builders. Owners and residents will enjoy the ability to create a home base, to engage in commerce, to enjoy the Cayman Islands and to thrive within the safe, relaxed community of our Sister Islands.
The Port Zeus community is a blank canvas in an idyllic paradise that beckons dreamers like you to tell its story and to help create its destiny.
The Port Zeus corporation invites far-sighted Caymanians, residents and dreamers to register their interest in owning the diamond of the Caribbean.
Visit portzeus.com today to learn more.
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