The government company is creating a complex that will complement the Great Bay Harbor development. Known as the Waterside Complex, the $42 million plan will create a commercial center as an alternative to the island tours offered by bus and taxi at the pier.

Caribbean restaurants, a casino and a water-theme park with dolphins will greet guests of the 197,000-square-foot entertainment complex. An open-air amphitheater will provide music as well. Coupled with a new boardwalk that will take guests to duty-free shopping downtown, the complex offers an entertainment area between the new cruise ship jetty and Philipsburg. The project will begin this July and it is projected to be complete by December 2001.

The idea for Waterside Complex came from a desire to enhance and beautify the area between the Great Bay Harbor and Philipsburg. The new facility allows for tourists and locals to shop during the day and dine under the stars at night.

Allard Stamm, managing director of the EDC explained, "The water project will help keep people here after six in the evening." There have been complaints that more should be done to keep people in the Philipsburg area after the duty-free shops close each day.

Before the tourism boom of the late 1970s and 1980s, Philipsburg had small markets, music and street action late into the evening. However, duty-free stores purchased most of these properties, creating the need for an area where locals and tourists could congregate in the evening. The waterfront complex is prepared to fill this void.

The area will have 59 retail satellite stores of similar operations located on Front Street in Philipsburg. The idea is not to detract from Philipsburg, historically known for its shopping and open-air markets, but rather to add to the capital city.

"This will aid the town more than hurt it," added Stamm. "The cruise passenger still wants to go into old town and we will even encourage this through the use of boat tenders, taxis and buses." Collaboration between government and businesses has avoided a confrontational situation. Most units are already reserved 18 months before the complex will even be completed.

"It is going to have a major impact for the island, making it much more reachable," said Jan Aben, managing director of Windward Roads, NV. As the subcontractor that is responsible for the paving of the bus and taxi area of the project, his team is busy working on the final plans for the infrastructure of the area.

The waterfront complex and the adjacent cruise ship project are not the only projects that are under way. Construction of a $9 million boardwalk and streetscaping program in Philipsburg are also planned.

Heyliger told the Philipsburg-based newspaper, The Daily Herald, that construction of the boardwalk and phase one of the streetscaping project would begin in June.

The Daily Herald reported that the 49-foot-wide boardwalk would enable visitors and locals alike to walk more easily from Bobby's Marina in the east to Captain Hodge Wharf in the center of town.

The boardwalk will have Great Bay beach on one side and the shops and hotels of Philipsburg on the other.

A concrete deck will be placed on top of piles that are driven 98 feet into the ground. Sand dredged from the Great Bay Harbor project will be used to maintain an 82-foot-beach in front of the boardwalk.

"Initially, it is a solution to protect businesses in Front Street . . . and to be a link between the harbor and town," Heyliger told the daily St. Maarten publication.

The streetscaping project will include the placement of benches and street lighting as well as the establishment of regular street security and cleaning crews. Construction and maintenance costs will be covered by a mandatory ordinance established by the EDC.

"The District Improvement Team ordinance will assess fees in the city for improvements," said Stamm. "The DIT has been talking for two years and we finally decided the only way was to make the ordinance mandatory. The ordinance should be passed April 1 and afterward the assessment will be levied."

The idea is to revitalize a once crowded downtown Philipsburg that now is planning for the future. With the 1985 French defiscalization law, French and European developers flocked to the French side of St. Martin to build resorts and develop Marigot, the commune capital. The foreign inversion greatly helped that side of the island, but it took with it many guests that used to frequent downtown Philipsburg after hours. The waterfront and boardwalk concepts were created to develop a Dutch-side revitalization program that many argue is overdue.

"The merchants have the chance to control their own destiny through the EDC," Heyliger told The Daily Herald.