If Laurance Rockefeller got his wish, the land that Caneel Bay Resort sits on would have been turned over to the Virgin Islands National Park today. That, however, is not happening.
A federal judge in St. Thomas ruled late last week that the United States cannot take over the Caneel Bay property while the federal court case is pending. Specifically, the judge stated, “that the United States shall not take any action to manage or dispossess Plaintiff of the property at issue until further order of the Court.”
The judge also postponed the scheduled bench trial date, which was set for October 16th.
“…due to the Court’s calendar and criminal trials taking precedence, the trial in this matter cannot go forward as scheduled,” the order read.
A new trial date has not been set.
I reached out to Mark Snyder, owner of the Caneel Bay Beach Club which is located at Honeymoon Beach, and he confirmed that they are continuing to operate as normal. Mark added that he has been in touch with the National Park and they, too, have said he can continue operating as normal.
I also chatted with John Ferrigno, owner of ZoZo’s restaurant, and he confirmed that the restaurant will reopen on December 13th as planned. ZoZo’s is located on Caneel Bay beach at the base of the dock.
As I mentioned previously, it’s a messy legal situation. I’ll let you all know more when I know more.
Want to know more about the pending federal court case? Click here to read Caneel Bay: The Messy Legal Battle for Ownership.
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That’s a shame.
So disappointing 😢
What a disaster for the St. John community. Let’s hope for quick decision. Yes, it has been 5 years already.
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