By INDERIA SAUNDERS, Guardian Business Desk

Bahamians may be surprised, but the developers behind Sandyport's commercial center are reporting a 95 percent occupancy rate — an impressive figure only being added to as an increasing number of businesses move west.

"We're doing very well in commercial space, it's a strong market for us," Garth Buckner, president of the Sandyport Development Co. Ltd., told Guardian Business yesterday. "We're building out additional space now and we find that there's good demand to relocate commercial office space from downtown to out west."

From his point-of-view, the movement comes as reaction to a lack of redevelopment in the downtown area — much ballyhooed but little evident. His comments follow recent public complaints about congestion and a lack of parking by downtown business tenants. The last beef, especially, has hampered business operations, say many. While the government has announced plans for the revitalization of downtown New Providence, movement in that direction has been slow to start.

The situation may just be enough to make current tenants not want to wait it out any longer, something Buckner is in fact counting on.

Sandyport is looking to expand its commercial center by 4,000 square feet — space that would be used to house more of the same clients as well as a big retail store, Guardian Business understands.

"My tenants are small firms, law firms and architects who want to be close to clients out west and close to where they live," said Buckner. "The Old Towne commercial space is one of the only developments of its type certainly out west where we mix a number of different facilities together from one of the best gyms on the island, clinics, banks, gas stations, restaurants and government post office and plenty of parking and security.

"This appeals to a lot of people looking to relocate their offices, who want to avoid congestion of other locations and then have the proximity to their clients."

It's location is not its only draw, insists the realtor, but the difference in pricing it offers when compared with similar spots downtown or over on Paradise Island. That's a price point that runs at $30 per square footage per year, Buckner said.

Boasting around 50-plus tenants now, the commercial center is bucking the trend of many other centers on the island and throughout The Bahamas that have for rent signs long stuck in the windows of empty units.

It may also speak to a retail sector now struggling with a falloff in tourism and the effects that has had on the income of Bahamians both in and outside of hospitality. Given indications the U.S. economy won't in fact recover until late 2010, the kind of re-birth the developer envisions may have a decidedly longer timeline.