After Decade of Court Battles, Baha Mar Developer, Contractor Settle Dispute

2024 New York Supreme Court ruling had awarded $1.6B to developer BML Properties

Developer and contractor settle Baha Mar lawsuit — Image courtesy Baha Mar Properties

On Nov. 26, developer BML Properties Ltd. and contractor China Construction America announced settlement of a long-running financial dispute over the $3.5B Baha Mar resort project in the Bahamas but disclosed no details..

A legal battle that began in 2015 after the developer of the then-nearly complete $3.5-billion Baha Mar resort development in the Bahamas filed for bankruptcy protection, and contractor China Construction Corp. then sued to take over the property, has finally been settled, the parties announced Nov. 26.

The amount and terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

"We are pleased to have put this matter behind us and reached a resolution that meets our expectations." Sarkis Izmirlian, chair of BML Properties Ltd., original developer of the Nassau-based resort project, said in a statement.

Yan Wei, chairman and CEO of China Construction Corp, formerly known as China Construction America, commented similarly in a company statement. “We are pleased to have successfully resolved this matter and to move forward with clarity and certainty for our employees, customers and partners,” he said. “While we remain convinced by the strength of our legal arguments, bringing this matter to a close is in the best interests of our stakeholders."

A New York state court judge had awarded $1.6 billion to BML Properties In October 2024, ruling that a board member of China State Construction Engineering Co. Bahamas, a unit of the Chinese company, "committed at least four instances of fraud." and that it had induced the developer's financial collapse through fraud and misrepresentation.

The New York court judge was not persuaded by China Construction America's counter arguments in court, instead finding that the contractor had intended to "cause a liquidity crisis pushing [the developer] out of its $845-million investment," and adding: "This is exactly what happened."

BML argued—and the judge concurred—that the bankruptcy was brought about partly through a $54-million payment from the developer to contractor unit CCA Bahamas as the project neared completion.

China Construction America filed for Chapter 11 in December 2024, and in April, lost its appeal of the New York state court ruling.

Scott Judy is ENR’s Managing Editor. His roughly 34 years as a construction journalist began with an 11-year stint visiting and writing about construction projects in the Midwest region of Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska. Then, in 2000, Judy helped launch ENR Southeast, now known as ENR Texas & Southeast. After all these years, Judy says his favorite part of being an ENR editor is visiting job sites and learning how—and reporting on—a team’s approach to overcoming the project’s design and construction challenges. And Judy says he never turns down an invitation for a project visit.