Susan Gordon, Business Reporter

The home of American International School on Olivier Road, Kingston. St. Andrew Hotels is selling the 12-acre property for US$12 million and the school has been given to June 2008 to relocate.

St. Andrew Hotels, a company owned by members of the Issa family, has plans to sell a 12-acre property in upscale Norbrook, St. Andrew where the American International School in Kingston (AISK) presently operates, and is asking US$1 million per acre.

No deal has been struck, but the company is in negotiations with an interested party, Wednesday Business has learned.

Vacate premises

AISK, which has a lease on the property, has been asked to vacate the premises by June 2008 in preparation for any new ownership, said a representative of the school, which caters largely, but not solely, to the children of American diplomats and other U.S. citizens working in Jamaica.

"The property is still on the market," Andrew Issa, general manager for St. Andrew Hotels said cagily.

Issa told Wednesday Business that the asking price for the property, which sits on the a block at the intersection of Shortwood Road and Olivier Road, was US$12 million (J$780 million) a price that includes the building, which is about 15,000 square feet.

But as to the purchaser: "I have no comment," he said.

Two years ago, AISK had relocated from Bamboo Avenue in Liguanea, to make way for the development of a new US embassy building still under construction on the site.

Director of AISK, Bruce Goforth, though acknowledging that he knew the school had to move again at some point, said his team had not yet identified a new home.

"We were given notice to vacate the property by June 2008," said Goforth, indicating that he also heard of the possible sale but wasn't sure of the buyer.

Option to purchase

The option to purchase the property from St Andrew Hotels was considered by AISK but tossed out by the school administration on the basis that the "price was out of our league," he said.

AISK, over the two years, had invested close to US$500,000 (J$32.million) in the property to retrofit it to the needs of the school which caters to children up to grade 12 and is spread across 15 classrooms.

"We built some parts of the infrastructure and added about six classrooms," Goforth said.

susan.gordon@gleanerjm.com