The Maho landowners have just extended the lease through June of 2013. I agreed to this with great relief. This last lease extension will offer everyone an opportunity to enjoy Maho for two more winter seasons.
I will not accept another short-term extension. We will either get a long-term lease which will allow for some wonderful capital improvements and investment in new technologies or close at the end of the lease in June 2013.
You can imagine the stress and anxiety of our employees, boat captains, artists, concessionaires and all the small businesses who make Maho special, not knowing if they have a job next year and who need to prepare for their own future.
This additional year means a great deal to our guests, staff, and the Island of St. John. It means that we all get extra time to do or redo some of our most favorite things. It has been a tough year for many which meant the possibility of not visiting Maho one last time. We hope this will afford you the opportunity. There is a special magic here that cannot be found anywhere else, and we are all grateful to have just a little more time to enjoy it.
I hope you are as excited as we are about this extra time we have acquired. For all of you that have already booked for May 2012, have no worries. We will be changing those rates back to our standard low season rates and will adjust your reservations accordingly.
Once again, I am so pleased to be able to share this news with everyone and hope to see you at Maho.
Best,
Stanley Selengut
2 comments:
Many of us "oldie" volunteers are really, really happy about the lease extension. Hopefully it will go far beyond the 1 year that has been signed. See you next year!!
Tim R.
Although I certainly understand Stanley's desire for a long-term lease, I'm glad to be able to report the news of a short-term lease extention to update the sustainable land development industry on this important subject:
What if Sustainable Land Developers Were Seen As Hope For The Future?
August 2009
http://www.triplepundit.com/2010/09/tale-projects/comment-page-1/#comment-93669
...years ago, long before any official green-building guidelines existed, developer Stanley Selengut leased 14 acres of land along the two, smile-shaped coves of Maho Bay on the U.S. Virgin Island of St. John. Over the next few years, he built 114 one-room, wood-and-vinyl tents behind the turpentine and kapok trees. The canopy they created loomed above wooden walkways that hovered over the soil so visitors wouldn’t damage the ground cover as they walked down to the beach or up to the restaurant pavilion, which was tucked back on a cliff overlooking the ocean. Water and electricity lines were laid beneath the walkways, precluding the need for trenches.
“When I finished building the place, it looked like it had grown there,” Selengut says.
Maho Bay Camps is a model for private developers and the National Park Service alike, according to Robert Stanton, who served four years as superintendent of Virgin Islands National Park before becoming director of the Park Service from 1997 to 2001.
“This is a textbook example of how development can be sustainable as well as compatible with the environment,” he said.
The concept Selengut pioneered 30 years ago has been validated by the million-plus visitors who have stayed in his Maho Bay resort without affecting the clarity of the waters.
“I didn’t see why human comfort and environmental sensitivity couldn’t be compatible,” he says. “I still don’t.” Now, the original long-term lease on the property is about to expire and a frantic effort has begun to save Maho Bay Camps...
Sustainable Land Development Initiative
Post a Comment