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Behind Celebration Jamaica
2008-06-01 Written by: Durrant Pate
Bob Trotta
The idea behind Celebration Jamaica establishing a mega casino resort in St. James was not an epiphany as some would think but a series of positive business experiences and a first hand exposure of the better side of the island of sun, sea and sand.
The two main principals behind Celebration Jamaica, Dennis Constranzo and Bob Trotta have a love affair with Jamaica from their landing on the rock and the success they have been experiencing with their first business venture in Jamaica, the Palmyra Resort & Spa, the first luxury residential community in Jamaica.
Located on 16 acres of pristine waterfront land just outside Montego Bay, the Palmyra Resort & Spa was named ‘One of the Top 10 Most Exciting Home Developments in the World’ by the prestigious Travel + Leisure Magazine.
The success of the Palmyra provided the fillip for the development of the mega casino resort, as both Constranzo and Trotta saw the added potential for an iconic experience in casino gaming and a resort experience to rival Atlantis, the Caribbean’s only casino resort domicile in the Bahamas.
Hence, the birth of Celebration Jamaica, the holding company for the casino resort development, which would be sited on the 70-acre parcel right in the heart of Rose Hall and located between the Palmyra and Rose Hall Hotel and Country Club.
‘Crown jewel’
Constranzo, who has just been appointed chief executive officer of Celebration Jamaica having served as president of the recently established holding company, described the property as “the crown jewel of Jamaica” noting that the conceptualization of the development was to bring a better experience than the Bahamas Atlantis casino resort to Jamaica.“
But why Jamaica and not elsewhere in the Caribbean? Constranzo quickly answered that the tremendous airport in Montego Bay, relatively good roads, beautiful topography and the people are great, as such it was too much of an overwhelming case in favour of Jamaica.
“We are really big fans of Jamaica; we think Jamaica is just starting to come into its own and we would like to further that,” the Celebration Jamaica boss exclaimed.
The ice-breaker behind partners foray in Jamaica is Trotter, who seized the opportunity five years ago from a real estate broker to purchase a 16-acre waterfront property, which he conceptualized would be ideal for a resort condominium/villa within a lush private sanctuary.
Constranzo, Trotta’s close business partner said it was the right decision to come to Jamaica stressing that there would be no looking back, as the desire was always to have a resort in the Caribbean, and Jamaica has proven to be the ideal location.
The developer for over 20 years explained that the dynamic duo (himself and Trotta) came to Jamaica to undertake projects with good potential for the next 10—15 years.
He reflected on the positive series of events, which were occurring with the Palmyra and the firsthand exposure with the Jamaican business environment and the locals, therefore “everything we were doing verifies our initial decision about coming to Jamaica and our analysis that Jamaica would be a great place to invest for the next 15 years.”
Given Jamaica’s rising crime rate, which Constranzo conceded was a deterring factor in the investment decision, he quipped, “We don’t make decisions around one factor. There are a lot of overwhelming reasons, as I mentioned earlier, which we factored in.”
He expressed the hope that crime would be brought down to a tolerable level and that the casino resort would be the camel that breaks the cycle of crime in Jamaica.”
According to Constranzo, “Our studies show that we are gonna be creating about 12,000 direct employment opportunities and indirect employment of 30,000, and if you infuse this in the Jamaican economy we hope that with all those people employed, there will be less crime because people will be employed.”
Culturally adaptable
Looking at the personal side of this imaginative developer was an interesting story to be told. Constranzo was born in Egypt of an Italian father and Belgian mother and have lived in different places across the globe.
He was living in California for a number of years, is a Canadian by citizenship and “now I am fully Jamaican.”
Acknowledging that his life has not been a normal one, Constranzo credits his ability to be so culturally adaptable to his being sensitive to the local customs of the countries in which he has lived and becoming part of local communities.
He is a family man, the father of three children — son Michael, seven years old and daughters Stephanie 21, and nine-year-old Alexandria, and is married to Katherine for the past 10 years. His two younger children live with the couple in Jamaica while Catherine attends college in California.
“My kids just adore Jamaica. They are outdoors all of the time and we are making lots of good friends in Jamaica,” Constranzo remarked, admitting that there was a level of fear bringing the children to Jamaica but said the right decision was made in the end.
Katherine is the chairperson of the Palmyra Foundation, which was established last year and has as its pet project the provision of textbooks to all basic schools in St. James. This year, the foundation would be giving away 100,000 textbooks, which would benefit approximately 15,000 schoolers.
Constranzo is an ardent Chelsea fan and an avid sportsman and glowingly spoke about the upcoming Rose Hall Trialathon, where he would be riding a bike.
2008-06-01 Written by: Durrant Pate
Bob Trotta
The idea behind Celebration Jamaica establishing a mega casino resort in St. James was not an epiphany as some would think but a series of positive business experiences and a first hand exposure of the better side of the island of sun, sea and sand.
The two main principals behind Celebration Jamaica, Dennis Constranzo and Bob Trotta have a love affair with Jamaica from their landing on the rock and the success they have been experiencing with their first business venture in Jamaica, the Palmyra Resort & Spa, the first luxury residential community in Jamaica.
Located on 16 acres of pristine waterfront land just outside Montego Bay, the Palmyra Resort & Spa was named ‘One of the Top 10 Most Exciting Home Developments in the World’ by the prestigious Travel + Leisure Magazine.
The success of the Palmyra provided the fillip for the development of the mega casino resort, as both Constranzo and Trotta saw the added potential for an iconic experience in casino gaming and a resort experience to rival Atlantis, the Caribbean’s only casino resort domicile in the Bahamas.
Hence, the birth of Celebration Jamaica, the holding company for the casino resort development, which would be sited on the 70-acre parcel right in the heart of Rose Hall and located between the Palmyra and Rose Hall Hotel and Country Club.
‘Crown jewel’
Constranzo, who has just been appointed chief executive officer of Celebration Jamaica having served as president of the recently established holding company, described the property as “the crown jewel of Jamaica” noting that the conceptualization of the development was to bring a better experience than the Bahamas Atlantis casino resort to Jamaica.“
But why Jamaica and not elsewhere in the Caribbean? Constranzo quickly answered that the tremendous airport in Montego Bay, relatively good roads, beautiful topography and the people are great, as such it was too much of an overwhelming case in favour of Jamaica.
“We are really big fans of Jamaica; we think Jamaica is just starting to come into its own and we would like to further that,” the Celebration Jamaica boss exclaimed.
The ice-breaker behind partners foray in Jamaica is Trotter, who seized the opportunity five years ago from a real estate broker to purchase a 16-acre waterfront property, which he conceptualized would be ideal for a resort condominium/villa within a lush private sanctuary.
Constranzo, Trotta’s close business partner said it was the right decision to come to Jamaica stressing that there would be no looking back, as the desire was always to have a resort in the Caribbean, and Jamaica has proven to be the ideal location.
The developer for over 20 years explained that the dynamic duo (himself and Trotta) came to Jamaica to undertake projects with good potential for the next 10—15 years.
He reflected on the positive series of events, which were occurring with the Palmyra and the firsthand exposure with the Jamaican business environment and the locals, therefore “everything we were doing verifies our initial decision about coming to Jamaica and our analysis that Jamaica would be a great place to invest for the next 15 years.”
Given Jamaica’s rising crime rate, which Constranzo conceded was a deterring factor in the investment decision, he quipped, “We don’t make decisions around one factor. There are a lot of overwhelming reasons, as I mentioned earlier, which we factored in.”
He expressed the hope that crime would be brought down to a tolerable level and that the casino resort would be the camel that breaks the cycle of crime in Jamaica.”
According to Constranzo, “Our studies show that we are gonna be creating about 12,000 direct employment opportunities and indirect employment of 30,000, and if you infuse this in the Jamaican economy we hope that with all those people employed, there will be less crime because people will be employed.”
Culturally adaptable
Looking at the personal side of this imaginative developer was an interesting story to be told. Constranzo was born in Egypt of an Italian father and Belgian mother and have lived in different places across the globe.
He was living in California for a number of years, is a Canadian by citizenship and “now I am fully Jamaican.”
Acknowledging that his life has not been a normal one, Constranzo credits his ability to be so culturally adaptable to his being sensitive to the local customs of the countries in which he has lived and becoming part of local communities.
He is a family man, the father of three children — son Michael, seven years old and daughters Stephanie 21, and nine-year-old Alexandria, and is married to Katherine for the past 10 years. His two younger children live with the couple in Jamaica while Catherine attends college in California.
“My kids just adore Jamaica. They are outdoors all of the time and we are making lots of good friends in Jamaica,” Constranzo remarked, admitting that there was a level of fear bringing the children to Jamaica but said the right decision was made in the end.
Katherine is the chairperson of the Palmyra Foundation, which was established last year and has as its pet project the provision of textbooks to all basic schools in St. James. This year, the foundation would be giving away 100,000 textbooks, which would benefit approximately 15,000 schoolers.
Constranzo is an ardent Chelsea fan and an avid sportsman and glowingly spoke about the upcoming Rose Hall Trialathon, where he would be riding a bike.