Nov. 9, 2007 — The Trust for Public Land is working to acquire the land under Maho Bay Camps, Greg Chelius, director of the trust's Florida and Caribbean programs, told members of the Rotary Club of St. John Friday.
"They have it for sale for a healthy price," Chelius told the nearly 20 people gathered at the Westin Resort and Villas Beach Cafe for the weekly meeting. He plans to meet with the owners' attorneys on Dec. 10 in New York.
Stanley Selengut, who owns Maho Bay Camps, leases the 14 acres of land from Geri-Geri Corp. The lease runs out in 2012. Selengut owns the land under Harmony Studios, which sits adjacent to Maho Bay Camps, but he has said he doesn't know what will happen to Harmony once the Maho lease expires.
The trust hopes to raise the money to buy the Maho Bay Camps land, Chelius said. It recently closed on the deal to buy a 6/11 share in 419 acres at Maho Bay, a parcel of land that runs inland. That area is located south of Maho Bay Camps.
Marsh family heirs who owned those shares were planning to sell it to businessman James Simon, but the trust moved to acquire the shares after Simon announced he wanted to relocate the beachfront road inland, dredge a pond and open a passage to the sea, as well as build a 150-foot dock.
To raise the $18 million needed to buy the land, the organization had to put 18 acres along the ridge up for sale.
"It was a sacrifice," Chelius said.
The trust also deeded six-acre lots to the Marsh family heirs.
The trust got a foothold in the property by buying a 1/11 share from Joey Adler, a Marsh heir, Chelius said. The heirs were about to declare Adler dead, since they hadn't heard from him in years, and absorb his 1/11 share into theirs. Then the trust hired a private investigator to look for Adler.
The investigator found Adler, a Vietnam veteran, living in a Veterans' Affairs halfway house in Sunnyvale, Calif. After receiving $1 million for his 1/11 share, Chelius said Adler is living a better life in southern California.
V.I. National Park owns 3/11 shares in the Marsh property, which Chelius said leaves a 1/11 share in the hands of another Marsh heir, the Nelson family. The trust also hopes to acquire the seven acres it doesn't own of what is called the Penn tract of land at Maho Bay. The trust owns one acre of the Penn tract, Chelius said.
The trust also owns another three acres of what is referred to as the Ortiz tract at Maho Bay. Selengut plans to donate 2.5 acres of land at Nanny Point, located near his Concordia Eco-tents and Condominiums, Chelius said.
He outlined other past projects across the Virgin Islands, including involvement in the redevelopment of Roosevelt Park on St. Thomas, slated to be dedicated Monday as Veterans' Park.
"The park looks fantastic," he said.
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