Feb. 22, 2008 -- Billionaire Allen Stanford, Gov. John deJongh Jr., Lt. Gov. Gregory Francis, Sen. Usie Richards, Port Authority Director Darlan Brin and other notables helped break ground on the Stanford Financial Group's global management complex by Henry E. Rohlsen Airport on St. Croix, Thursday. The development includes a 105,000-square-foot conference center, office and management complex and a 35,000-square-foot aircraft hangar on 40 acres of land adjacent to the airport.
Actual groundbreaking is expected to occur by the end of March. Design drawings are complete and permit applications are pending. The company expects to complete construction in July 2009.
It was a glamorous affair. Guests walked a walkway lined with potted plants into a carpeted, air-conditioned tent the size of a hotel conference center on the spot where the complex is to be. Inside the tent, well-dressed, smiling Stanford representatives directed arrivals to their spots, filling their hands with glossy materials in smartly embossed folders.
Several wall-sized photographic prints were arrayed along the back of the transitory conference center, forming a single, house-sized graphic advertising display reminiscent of a travel magazine ad.
The glossy commemorative ceremony program clutched in most hands had copies of letters from various notables, topped by a note from President George W. Bush.
"I send greetings to those gathered in St. Croix, Virgin Islands to celebrate the expansion of Stanford Financial Group," the brief letter opens, above Bush's signature in wide, felt-marker strokes.
Speakers rose to thank Stanford and laud the benefits this large business center will bring to St. Croix. Christian Christensen, husband to Delegate Donna Christensen, presented Stanford with a U.S. flag. He read a note from Pelosi.
"We look forward to this flag flying over your corporate headquarters," Pelosi wrote.
Darlan Brin, executive director of the Port Authority, compared the coming of Stanford to St. Croix to the establishment of what is now the Hovensa refinery.
"This venture here is probably the most significant for St. Croix since the Hess family came here in the 1960s," Brin said.
Senate President Usie Richards said it was a good sign that Stanford had already hired numerous talented Virgin Islanders and he praised Stanford's record of philanthropy on the island of Antigua.
DeJongh said Stanford 's arrival is a boon to St. Croix.
"I think today, Sir Allen, you have given the push over the tipping point for St. Croix to take off," he said. "We used to say to people coming back looking for careers on St. Croix, 'Have you tried the private sector?' Now we say, 'Have you gone to Stanford?'
"I'm glad he's read my credentials too, so I don't have to send him my resume."
Stanford expressed a love of St. Croix and the Caribbean but also spoke frankly about the business rationale for coming to the Virgin Islands.
"Why are we setting up office here, far removed from the financial centers of New York, London and Tokyo?" he posed rhetorically. "Why here? Certainly EDC benefits are a major consideration."
The V.I. Economic Development Commission can bestow broad tax forgiveness upon companies in exchange for setting up in the territory, hiring locally and giving to charity. These are commonly called EDC benefits.
But Stanford went on to say the business opportunities in the region are the overriding factor, not tax benefits.
"The Caribbean has long been overlooked, long been undervalued as a place to invest," he said.
Emphasizing his plans to hire and promote locally, Stanford said the territory struggled with a brain drain as Virgin Islanders left the island to go to college, and then sought careers stateside.
"Because the island is small, combined with the brain-drain, makes it hard to find local, indigenous people to work for you," he sad. "The brain-drain is a problem and the only way to reverse it is to create first-class opportunities at home."
Repeating the argument he made at last fall's St. Croix Economic Summit, Stanford said overhauling the territory's EDC law could jump-start the entire region. (See: "United States Would Help Itself by Helping the Caribbean, Billionaire Says.")
"The law must include all Caribbean-created revenues," he said, "as long as the company is headquartered in the Virgin Islands."
He said 1960, when the EDC measure came into being, was a long time ago. "Scrap it and make a new law. When that happens, the Caribbean will begin almost overnight to see a real flow of capital," he said.
With his cricket team in the audience, Stanford trumpeted his sports investments and the profit potential of Stanford 20/20 Cricket.
"On Sunday the pre-championship is being broadcast to 150 million viewers," he said. "The grand championship will have up to 500 million viewers. In India alone cricket is a $3.2 billion dollar industry."
St. Croix will be the head office of Stanford 20/20 Cricket, he said.
The St. Croix complex will also serve as the base for the corporate support functions of Stanford's global network of financial services companies. It will house the business technology, compliance, finance, human resources, investment strategy and legal departments of Stanford Global Management and be the headquarters of Stanford Caribbean Investments.
The companies are all wholly owned by Allen Stanford, who is the third generation to head the finance company founded by his grandfather in Texas in 1932. It has over $43 billion in assets under management or advisement worldwide. Last year, it generated over $1.6 billion in revenue.
The company has many facets, but specializes in financial management services for the very wealthy. Forbes magazine lists Stanford personally as one of the 400 richest Americans with a net worth of approximately $2 billion.
More detailed information on the Stanford companies can be found at stanfordfinancial.com.

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