bahamas realty

August 1999 Table of Contents

BAHAMAS REALTY CELEBRATES 50 YEARS
by Dianne Phillips

It was a dinner 50 years in the making. For the guests - the janitress and handyman who were honoured, the accounting and office staff, the partners and spouses - it was an occasion worth celebrating to the last toast of fine champagne, even if it meant promising to starve for the next three days to repent.

The occasion was the 50th anniversary of Bahamas Realty. Gourmet food and goodwill flowed - it had been a long haul since the company started a half century before, a history of growth and contraction, development and, finally, a formula for success unparalleled in scope by any real estate firm in The Bahamas. During five decades, the company changed names, altered partners, expanded interests, proudly opened a new office in 1982 after major renovations to a historic building, only to suffer when it burned down three years later.

The dinner on Friday night 11th June under the stars in the backyard of the office they rebuilt on East Bay Street was an exercise in coming full circle and then some. It was the story of young entrepreneurs who grew a business, partly by paying attention to each other and the human element and partly by being technologically aggressive. But they didn't pat themselves on the back that Friday night; they chose the occasion to honour five members of staff who had a total of 64 years service.

"Tonight is really a celebration, an opportunity to thank and honour those people who have been the integral force in allowing us to achieve our goals and be the strong firm we are today," said Bahamas Realty president Robin Brownrigg. He bestowed awards and thanks on Ruth Lewis, 15 years in the accounts department; Vernell Roker, janitress for 13 years; Wellington Lewis, 13 years a handyman; Daniel Hall, 12 years in accounts; and Rose Key, in accounts for 11 years.

It was Wilde and Brownrigg, who along with a former partner, bought the assets and management operation of Bernard Sunley & Sons Ltd in 1978, merging in that same year with Bert L Roberts Ltd, which had formed in 1949 to conduct real estate services. Bert Roberts' son Larry Roberts is now a partner in Bahamas Realty, and is saddened only by the fact his father never saw him follow in his footsteps. The late Bert Roberts never knew his son was president of the Bahamas Real Estate Association nor that he had been a driving force in shaping the company that now has 725 listings and offices in three islands.

Pioneers in real estate in The Bahamas like Bert Roberts, who sold plots of sunshine and dreams to the winter and tax-weary foreigner in the 40's, would have felt they were in a different world hearing today's facts and figures: condos starting a $500,000 selling before they are built; wealthy residents paying $3.5 million for a home, then tearing it down to build something bigger; a company like Bahamas Realty with hundreds of thousands of commercial square feet to manage; internationally trained and licensed appraisers; a separate property management division; bilingual agents with clients from every continent; and a web site that attracted nearly 10,000 hits the first month it was expanded.

They danced under the stars, the people who had built a business that was in many ways like family, celebrating together at what seemed like home instead of a commercial establishment.

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