' V |^j|ginP«iS : \J ■' Herald & Lantern 9 lanuary '85 c

Sosua Beach . 'C'mon Down;' Bring $100,000 Minimum

By JOE ZELNIK Sixty persons — most of them discussing milliondollar ventures the way ordinary people chat about double coupons — attended an "investors' presentation" at the Wildwood Country Club last Thursday night. They were offered a chance — minimum investment. $100,000 - to get in on • the ground floor of a hotel and casino planned in the Dominican Republic by ■> North Wildwood's David

Probinsky and his son, Brent. The four-hour event — it started at 6:30 with cocktails and ended, at 10:30 with an invitation for anyone interested to "C'mon down" (to Sosua Beach ) — included hot and cold hors d' oeuvres, a sitdown dinner, an open bar, and an hour and a half presentation by the Probinskys, .their architects, their treasurer, and their vice president for com muni ca'J tions. Thomas A. Parsons of Wildwood. * Probinsky, 65, is a public relations man who has spent much of his career in tourism development in the Carribean. but is probably best known locally for bringing casino gambling, specifically Resorts International, to Atlantic City. As he put it last week. "I don't need any money. Resorts made me very rich. And I made them very rich." The very rich in the audience laughed appreciatively. "YOU'RE ASKING why we're doing this in Wildwood." said Probinsky. "I've been a resident of Anglesea for 65 years ( he also maintains s residence in Sosua » . My son was born in Burdette Tomlin. My dad was one of the'founders - of this club. I'm not here to hustle a few people for a couple bucks. " Probinsky told the Herald and Lantern his firm will be hosting similar presentations in Miami, where his son, Brent. 34. lives. .. "When I brought in Resorts." said Probinsky.

"people said, 'why itfwhell didn't you tell us?' Kd like to have some of my friends » and associates participate in this project. I'd like to give them a piece of the action." TREASURER James Feltman said the project is budgeted at $16 million for initial development, of which 75 percent will come from the "likely builder," the George Fuller Co. of New York City, and 25 percent — $4 million — from investors. An earlier market study distributed by the firm said the first phase of the project would cost $15 million with $7 million from institutional borrowings and $8 million from private investors. But by Monday, based on the the reaction from investors, David Probinsky told the Herald and Lantern he had persons from Atlantic and Cape May counties "prepared to put in $4-6 million" and the firm is "negotiating with Fuller for $8-10 million." This would be common stock in the Florida-based Sosua Holding Corp. THE 26-ACRE oceanfront site is on the relatively undeveloped north coast of the Dominican Republic. It will include 200 rooms, 70 of them suites. They'll go for $95 a day in season. $65 out-of-season. It also will have a dinner show theater, a 25-store arcade and several restaurants. But the 50-table. 15,000-square-foot, casino will be built first, with completion expected 18 months after construction starts this summer, the hotel would take 24-30 months. Feltman said. He said the firm will spend $3 million for land acquisition and site development, $10 million for "brick and mortar," and $3 million for "development costs and interest carrying." The cost per furnished room, he said, would be $30,000, a figure that some indicated was less than in the Wild^oods today. IN ANSWER to a question, David Probinsky said

the project would be a moneymaker even without pthe casino, but he said the firm has "a letter" from the government guaranteeing it the casino, the first on the northern* coast, although there have been 17 applications. Feltman said the casino would have a $36 million annual "drop" and profit $5 million a year. David Probinsky called those figures "conservative" and said the casino alone would be worth $16 million in a year and "in 10 years this will surpass anything in the Caribbean." "This is absolute boomsville," said Probinsky. "The day we open up, that profit will be worth $35 million." ^ He said figures were computed without considering slot machines, not allowed in the Dominican Republic. But he said slots will be legal by the time the casino is open. It is designed with space for 200 machines, he said, which should net $70 a day apiece compared to the $170 in Atlantic City. Slots, he Auannc oivu», *»-

of Latin America and South America, and Miami. Brent Probinsky said the Dominican Republic tourist "market" includes South Americans, Europeans and Canadians," but it is "undiscovered by Americans." "Nothing I have seen compares with the beauty of this place, said David probinsky. "You have to come and see it to believe

it. Come on down. We'll wine you and dine you." Potential investors were urged to talk to the hotelcasino principals after the session to arrange free four-day visits to Sosua, which are being handled by Samuel Dickson -Coombs, owner of Wildwood Travel Agency "If you don't go, five years from now you'll be kicking yourself," said David Probinsky.

ACC To Hold Tax Seminar *

MAYS LANDING - "The Tax Reform Act of 1984," a continuing professional education seminar, will be held at Atlantic Community College 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 26. Topics of discussion will include corporations, welfare plan amendments, charitable contributions and valuation#, below market loans, retirement plan changes and executive compensation items. Registration deadline is

Jan. 19. For more information, call 625-1111 or 646-4950, ext. 249.

Casino Trip WILDWOOD — St. Ann's Church will sponsor a trip to the Atlantic Casino in Atlantic City Jan. 21. Sixhour stay will include buffet and show. The proceeds will go to the renovation fund. For reservations, call 522-6613.

said, "will add another $3 million in net earnings. AMONG other attributes of the Domincan Republic, the Probinskys said, is that, unlike other Caribbean countries, "nationals are allowed to gamble" and the county has many local wealthy who will provide 50 percent of the gaming individuals." They also praised the country's "local stability, economic strength and friendliness toward foreigners." A key to the investment potential, Feltman said, is the 3-1 peso-to-dollar ratio. Also, labor costs are low, 80 percent of them material for the complex is available locally, and taxes i were described as "excellent: a 10-year tax holiday on all except the casino, which be taxed at 20 percent of net, the lowest in 1 the world that I know of." ; Probinsky called that "a ; fairy tale" compared to i taxes of a "about 50 percent of the take" in Atlantic City." 1 BRENT -PROBINSKY said he and his father discovered Sosua two years ago on vacation" and fell in Jove with it." The project would be "a luxury hotel," he said, as opposed to "a middle-class tourist," and rates would be about 10 percent higher. Although the southern v coast of the Dominican Republic, which takes up the eastern two-thirds of an island shared with Haiti, has seven casinos, Brent Probinsky said the northern coast has had "zero development until five years ago." Now there are 12 hotels planned in a 15-mile radius, he said. "You can't get a room in the five-month winter season and they have 60-70 percent oc-t cupancy in the off-season." Impetus for the development. he said, was construction of the Puerto Plata Airport, 25 minutes from Sosua. Now, he said, land, condos, hotels are just going crazy." DAVID PROBINSKY said the hotel-casino's "market" would be "very wealthy Latins. We can become their (tourist) destination." He mention—J ed Mexico, Puerto Rico, all t I S

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