Residents press legislature to scrutinize proposed Elan lease for Marianas Resort and Spa

A joint Senate-House committee held a public hearing at GTC Elementary School to receive testimony on a proposed lease with Elan Group for the Marianas Resort and Spa, the committee’s chairwoman, Senator Carina L. Magoffner, said. The committee did not take action on the lease during the session.

The proposal would cover about 1,449,221 square meters, offer an initial 40-year term with a possible 15-year extension if approved by the Department of Public Lands (DPL) and the Legislature, and would require a minimum investment of $220,000,000 by the lessee, committee members said. The lease packet summarized public-benefit commitments including more than $4,000,000 for community projects and several earmarked items such as a homestead infrastructure project and sports facilities.

Why it matters: Residents and small-business owners said the island’s current hotel occupancy and the lessee’s past performance on earlier leases are central to whether another large resort is appropriate. Public commenters repeatedly asked the Legislature to verify Elan’s financial capacity and to protect opportunities for homestead, local employment and community infrastructure.

Public commenters voiced similar concerns across several themes. Zeno De Leon Guerrero Jr., a Precinct 4 resident, asked whether “an investment in a resort [is] something we need right now,” citing monthly occupancy rates he said were about 28.6 percent and urging the committee to weigh whether new construction would hurt existing hotels.

John Lee, another resident, highlighted the size of the proposed investment and questioned how realistic the lessee’s promises are, saying, “let that sink in,” when describing the proposal’s nearly $220 million renovation figure and the property’s scale. Lee and other speakers compared the lease to prior cases in which leaseholders did not complete promised improvements.

Several residents urged alternatives to a single large lease. Ignacio Evangelista and others said the property and its golf course have been important local employers and recreational space and argued that concentrating control with one company risks monopolization. Juan I. Denorio and other speakers emphasized homestead access for local families, citing a constitutional and covenant principle they invoked as protecting public land for Chamorro and Carolinian descendants.

Speakers also raised infrastructure and access concerns. Residents asked the committee to require that sewer, water and road upgrades be resolved in lease negotiations and to ensure commitments for community uses such as a baseball field, swimming pool and a lifelong-education center are enforceable and funded. Annie Picosiber said improvements often lead to higher user fees that can price local residents out of recreational facilities that were formerly affordable.

Committee response and next steps: Senator Carina L. Magoffner said the committee will collect the public comments, summon DPL and Elan Group for additional discussion, and request more financial documents from DPL and the lessee to verify whether the investment pledges are backed by evidence. Magoffner said the committee may hold further public hearings or proceed to deliberation after receiving those materials. “We want to make sure that...that promise will be fulfilled, and the only way to do that is to show us the numbers,” she said.

Senator Manny Castro thanked residents for substantive comments and reiterated the emphasis on “quality” over “quantity” in tourism development. Several committee members said the hearing material will be transmitted back to DPL and the lessee for clarification before any vote or recommendation.

No formal vote on the lease was taken. The committee did adopt the meeting agenda and later adjourned after the public-comment period; those procedural motions were approved by voice vote during the session. The committee closed the public-comment portion before moving to new business and heard an overview of the lease from the House chairman, who summarized the acreage, term, public-benefit amounts and the minimum $220 million investment requirement.

The Legislature did not set a decision date at the hearing. Committee members said they would notify the public about follow-up steps and whether a copy of the lease packet can be posted on the Legislature’s website or social media pages.

Ending: With no action taken, the committee left the record open for further review and said it will return to DPL and Elan Group for documents and clarification before deciding whether to recommend approval, further hearings or rejection.