Nicholas Richards, Gleaner Writer
Air Jamaica building at 72 Harbour Street, downtown Kingston. - RICARDO MAKYN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
AIR JAMAICA is securing its position in downtown Kingston with an attempt to acquire proper parking facilities.
The Air Jamaica move comes after its former private owners sought to sell the corporate headquarters and shift its operations to Montego Bay and the Norman Manley International Airport.
Laid out even before the automobile era, companies located in the downtown area now have a problem coping with employees and customers with their own private transportation. Air Jamaica is among those companies which are seeking to buy nearby lots of land to be converted for use as parking.
SEEKING OWNERS
"We have been trying to find the owners for the longest while but we have been unsuccessful," said an official at Air Jamaica. "As a matter of fact we got only one response since last year."
The company on Wednesday placed a notice in the press seeking the owners of 11 lots in East Street, Water Lane, and Harbour Street.
But there is a difficulty in finding the names of the owners of lots as at times it is not recorded on the title. Coupled with this is that some records of ownership are either unavailable or cannot be found.
The conversion of abandoned lots into parking areas in downtown Kingston is a definite asset in boosting business in the area, say property experts. And several financial institutions have already laid out new parking for their customers.
