PROPERTY BULGARIA INFO

Wednesday, October 24th, 2007

Black Sea Golf & Country Club Ground-breaking ceremony

The  ceremony of the 2000-decare Black Sea Golf & Country Club was held on October 24 in the coastal town of Kableshkovo, Pomorie Municipality. “The terrain looks like it has been created for a golf course on purpose. But when we first came here three years ago, this site was designated for a dung-hill. Fortunately, we came to an agreement with Pomorie Municipality and now we can create something beautiful.” said Thomas Gallagher, one of the project’s investors.

The project is evaluated at 194 million euro. Nineteen million of that will be invested in infrastructure - roads, sewerage, electricity supply, and a waste-water treatment plant. The project is entirely financed by Thomas Gallagher, David Newman, and Nicholas Gallagher. At the present moment, the three men manage investments in Europe at a total value of over 1 billion euro. Pomorie Municipality joined Kabland Ltd, the joint stock venture set up to develop the project, by apportioning almost 2000 decares of land for the complex’ construction in the picturesque area of Kableshkovo.

The complex will include a championship golf course (18 holes, 850 000 sq m), various sports facilities, a four- or five-star hotel, and houses and apartments with a bed-capacity of minimum 3000. After completion of the first development phase, in three years, investors expect the infrastructure, the course, the sports facilities, hotel, and 700 villas and apartments to be finished. At the present moment, the project has a Detailed Zoning Plan and an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The project will be designed by Spanish architects, and local companies will carry out the construction. Eight hundred permanent new jobs will be created with the golf complex development.

Thomas Gallagher, David Newman, and Nicholas Gallagher invest mainly in holiday and commercial properties in Spain, France, the UK, Ireland, and the USA. They are developing another holiday project in Bulgaria - Premium Holiday Complex in the coastal town of Tsarevo, comprising 270 holiday apartments. The project is in the planning stage. Investors told journalists they are willing to invest in the Super Borovets project, as well.

“Golf tourism in Bulgaria is immature. There are many golf projects, but few are completed. The situation was exactly the same in Spain some 30 years ago. And now it is a world-famous golf destination. We believe Bulgaria has a great potential to develop as an attractive place for golfers,” said Thomas Gallagher. The golf industry’s global value is estimated at 15 billion euro a year. In Europe, there are at least five million golfers. Blagoy Ragin, chairmen of the Bulgarian Hotel & Restaurant Association, said Bulgaria has the potential to welcome 10 to 12 million tourists a year. About four million tourists have visited Bulgaria since January 2007.