By Erica James-King, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
THE TOURIST resort town of Negril, Westmoreland, is to benefit from a multimillion-dollar upscale residential housing development targeting local professionals and returning residents.
Negril Estate, the first planned, gated-residential community in the resort town, is being developed by private sector interests Paradise Real Estate Brokers and Western Engineering Services Ltd.
"Significant investments amounting to millions of dollars will be flowing into the development of this project," said Patrick Fletcher, a director at Paradise Real Estate Brokers. He told The Gleaner the new development, with an initial investment of about $250 million, was aimed at providing housing solutions mostly for professionals in the tourism industry. Also, it targets Jamaicans who want to return home, but who have serious concerns about security.
SECURITY
"Negril Estate will provide 24-hour security, so that will settle the concerns of those persons who are scared about the crime situation in the country," Mr. Fletcher said in an interview with The Gleaner. He said the project was environmentally-friendly, as the development will boast fully landscaped community parks and a central sewage system, adequate drainage network, in addition to sidewalks and curb walls along roadways.
The stakeholders behind the project disclose that some 80 per cent of the sewage facilities and 70 per cent of the water infrastructure have been completed, with half of the drainage system already in place.
Located along the Negril to Little London main road, three-quarters of a mile east of the Negril roundabout, Negril Estate comprises 158 serviced lots, with breathtaking panoramic views of the sea. The lots went on the market earlier this month, and to date 30 per cent of the lots have already been sold. That's according to Mark Nelson, head of Western Engineering Services Ltd. The lots, which vary from a size of a quarter acre to 30,000 square feet, have a minimum price tag of US$35,000 ($2.1 million).
RESPONSE
"We are pleased with the response we have been getting from the international market, but we are not satisfied that enough Jamaicans have been coming forward to claim lots," said Mr. Fletcher. "One of the special features of Negril Estate is that we have five lots measuring 50,000 square feet which could be acquired by developers for erecting townhouses or villas."
The establishment of Negril Estate comes amidst pronouncements from the state-run National Housing Trust (NHT) that Westmoreland is the parish in the western end of the island with the greatest need for housing.
The NHT told The Gleaner that as part of moves to address the demand, the infrastructure for 110 housing lots will be put in place at Waterworks in the parish, by December this year.
