Sea Island, Georgia

Sea Island is an unincorporated area of Glynn County, Georgia, and is part of the Golden Isles of Georgia, which include Jekyll Island, St. Simons Island, and Little St. Simons Island. It is owned by the Sea Island Company, which operates an affluent resort there, and limits public access to the island. The surrounding marshland, which visitors drive through, was immortalized in 'The Marshes of Glynn' by Sidney Lanier in 1878.

History

Sea Island has drawn developers and other investors since the first two decades of the 20th century:

Eugene O'Neill on Sea Island in May 1936.
Credit: Carl Van Vechten

• 1911 — Howard E. Coffin (vice president of the Hudson Motor Company) purchased 20,000 acres (81 km²) of land on nearby Sapelo Island; and he began developing it as a private retreat.
• 1926 — Coffin purchased Long Island, renaming it Sea Island.
• 1927 — "The Plantation" golf course was built.
• 1928 — Coffin began an overnight inn and lodge, named "The Cloister."

21st century

Sea Island is owned by the Sea Island Company, which also owns property on St. Simons Island. The company is managed by Bill Jones III. In an interview with Cigar Aficionado magazine, he discussed the expansion of Sea Island and was quoted as saying, "The banks almost pay you to borrow money today."

• 2003 — The Sea Island Company closed the main building of The Cloister. After 75 years of service, it replaced the building with a new one.

• 2004 — Sea Island hosts the G8 Summit.

• 2006 — The new main building opened along the Black Banks River on the west side of Sea Island. In addition, the spa, tennis center, stables and docks were opened.

• 2007 — A new Beach Club was opened.

• 2008 — Sea Island Company announced layoffs affecting approximately 500 employees, or 25% of the workforce.

• 2009 — Sea Island Company received four Five-Star awards from the Mobil Travel Guide,^{[citation needed]} for The Cloister, The Lodge at Sea Island, the Georgian Room at The Cloister, and The Cloister Spa.

• April 2009 — Synovus announces that Sea Island Company defaulted on its loans and that the banks would work to restructure the loan package.^{[citation needed]}

• July 2009 — Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP filed a US District Court class action lawsuit against Synovus Financial Corp. on behalf of an institutional investor, alleging that the defendants harmed Synovus investors by failing to disclose its exposure to the Sea Island Company and "the deteriorating condition of Sea Island".^{[citation needed]}

• July 2009 — Sea Island announces that Synovus and Bank of America have restructured a $400,000,000 loan package.

• October 2009 — The Sea Island company places large tracts of undeveloped land on the market in order to raise funds to pay down debt.

• November 2009 — Wells Fargo takes over the deed to Sea Island's Frederica property to settle a loan estimated to be $140mm to $150mm. Wells Fargo also took ownership of other pieces of vacant land including Cannon's Point.

• January 2010 — Sea Island defaults on the restructured loan package, the second default in less than 12 months.

• February 2010 — Sea Island announces that Goldman Sachs has been hired to assess strategic options including the possible sale of the company.

• August 2010 — Sea Island Company files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and sells its assets to Oaktree Capital Management and Avenue Capital Group.
• October 2010 — Sea Island acquired for $212.4 million by four firms 'Oaktree Capital Management LP','Avenue Capital Group','Anschutz Corp' and 'Starwood Capital Group Global'.

G8 summit

In June 2004 (June 8–10), the Sea Island Company hosted a summit of the Group of Eight leaders at Sea Island. As with previous sites of the G8 meeting, the venue is remote, easily secured, and has luxurious accommodations. As part of the security measures, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) designated the summit a National Special Security Event (NSSE). DHS also began to deal with another NSSE: the state funeral of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan.

The venue was specifically chosen to control access to the conference. The geographic isolation was enhanced by positioning the International Media Center for the Sea Island summit in Savannah, 80 miles away on the Georgia mainland. Protestors and demonstrations were effectively marginalized, in part because the conference venue was located in a nearly inaccessible place. The island's security cordon was enhanced when the Governor of Georgia declared a state of emergency in six counties, which began on May 25, 2004 to deal with the potential danger of violence or damage by demonstrators during the Group of 8 economic summit.

See also

• List of G8 summit resorts

References

• Porter, Darwin and Danforth Prince. (2007). Frommer's The Carolinas & Georgia. Hobokin, New Jersey: Frommers. 10-ISBN 0-470-10050-8; 13-ISBN 978-0-470-10050-9; OCLC 126837314
• Article about road privatization from TheBrunswickNews.com

External links

• Sea Island Resorts
• Sea Island Residential Properties
• Sea Island Real Estate Map