TEAM King Investment (CNMI) LLC, the new owner of Imperial Pacific International’s hotel and casino, will have to pay government regulatory fees and developer tax, according to two CNMI officials.
In separate interviews on Tuesday, Department of Public Works Secretary Ray N. Yumul and Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality Administrator Floyd Masga said Team King — which took over IPI’s assets, including the unfinished 14-story hotel tower and the casino in Garapan — will have to go through the regulatory process again.
Yumul explained that the building permit issued to IPI in 2015 automatically expired one year after construction activities stopped in 2020 due to federal law violations. Now that a new owner has taken over the unfinished facility, the regulatory process must start anew.
For the new building permit, he said DPW will have to assess developer tax. “We are the assessing authority,” he added.
DPW building safety inspectors reported in June 2025 that the hotel tower’s basement revealed “some concerns with the structural integrity of the building.” In the boiler room, inspectors noticed some columns “were cracked or spalling,” indicating that the rebars within were expanding due to corrosion. Cracks were also observed in parts of the basement floor.
Before DPW can assess the developer tax, Yumul said, Team King must first secure a major siting permit from BECQ.
“We will not issue any construction permit absent a major siting permit from BECQ’s Coastal Resource Management,” he said. “All regulatory agencies must issue permits before DPW can issue a new building permit and assess developer tax,” which, according to Public Law 8-23, is 2% of the total project cost of infrastructure development. The developer tax is appropriated by the respective legislative delegations of Rota, Tinian, and Saipan exclusively for government infrastructure improvements in each senatorial district.
Masga said that although an existing major siting permit had previously been issued, BECQ must determine how long construction activities have been paused. He also noted other considerations, including a forested area at the back of the site that might have been impacted by deterioration of the abandoned building and leftover construction materials.
He said the new owner will also need to update documentation, including the company’s name and contact information. “The new owner will have to come back and talk to us again so we can figure out what needs to be done with those,” Masga said.
