The Government Employees’ Retirement System board of trustees received good news about the new hotel development on its St. Thomas waterfront property and its cash investments Thursday.
GERS CEO Angel Dawson reported to the trustees that the hotel was 91 percent complete, with a soft opening expected on Aug. 5 and a full opening scheduled for October. The opening is essential to GERS because, under its agreement with the hotel developers, lease payments do not begin until the hotel is operating.
The plans for the five-story, 126-room hotel also include a visitor center and green space. Dawson said, “The walls are going up for the visitors’ center.” It is expected to be completed in November. He added that the green space would be “substantial.”
GERS Investment Officer Glenville Henderson told the board that its investments had not suffered during the volatile market resulting from tariff speculations. He emailed the Source saying, “Despite $100 million in withdrawals so far to pay retiree benefits, asset levels have remained largely unchanged compared to the same period last year, maintaining the system’s financial stability and timely disbursement of annuities.”
His report listed GERS assets as being a little over $500 million.
Commenting on Henderson’s report to the Source, Dawson emailed, “I would further add that the portfolio has also been subject to extraordinary volatility in the financial markets in the first and second quarters. Additionally, GERS is still due approximately $90 million from the funding note, due to a shortfall in the rum excise tax cover in fiscal years 2024 and 2025. Despite these headwinds, to have maintained portfolio asset levels is notable.”
Ucilla Austrie, the accounting coordinator, reported that expenditures at Havensight Mall were down this year compared to last year, and collections were up.
The lion’s share of the $560,000 collection increase was a $433,000 increase in rent collections.
The decrease in expenditures included a $202,000 reduction in capital projects and a $86,000 decrease in utility costs.
Trustees Dwane Callwood, Leona Smith, Vincent Liger, Tahmin Clarke, and Andre Dorsey attended the meeting. Ronald Russell was absent.
St. Croix Source
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