Susan Gordon, Business Reporter

The National Housing Trust last week was confident it can market its one-fifth share of new housing units it plans to build at Twickenham Park in partnership with two agencies despite their proximity to Central Village, a community with a reputation for violence.

The 50-acre development on lands valued at $18 million will take three and a half years to complete from the scheduled start in June. It went to tender in mid-December.

The housing project will also be four kilometres from the sometimes troubled Spanish Town square.

Ideal for housing

"The property is in an ideal location for housing," said Donald Moore, the National Housing Trust's (NHT) senior general manager for construction and development, adding that the location was a "high demand area within the Kingston Metropolitan region with easy access to existing civil and social infrastructure."

The NHT and its joint venture partners, the Joint Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) and the Jamaica Civil Service Association (JCSA), are still finalising the costings on the development to comprise 767 units. The partners are contributing the land, the housing agency said.

The NHT will own 20 per cent or 153 units, while the remaining 80 per cent will be allocated to JCTU and JCSA.

"The NHT does not envisage any difficulty in selling the remaining 20 per cent of the units in what is a good location and will be an attractive development," said Moore.

Relocation coincidental

It would also appear that the Trust intends to safeguard its investment by relocating its St. Catherine office from Martin Street, in Spanish Town Square, to land adjacent to the housing development, where it should find it easier to do regular checks on the units after sales.

However, Moore said the office relocation was coincidental.

"The decision to relocate the NHT office in that area was fortuitous and coincidental. After an exhaustive search of Spanish Town, the NHT was unable to find a suitable location," he said, referring to the agency's hunt for new space for an expanded office.

Commercial complex

"Discussions with our joint venture partners led to the acceptance of this location (along the highway frontage) which is earmarked for a commercial complex," he added, clearing up any doubts of whether the NHT office was being built on lands zoned for residences.

The 767 unit housing complex will comprise 287 two-bedroom townhouses measuring 80 square metres each, 288 two-bedroom apartments of 51 square metres each on three-storey blocks, and 192 will be three bedroom apartments with a similar layout of 61 square metres each.

On land valued at J$18 million, the NHT is optimistic that it will easily offload its share of the 767 housing units it plans to construct in Twickenham Park, St. Catherine.

NHT says quotations on the winning construction bid will be used to determine the price of the units.

susan.gordon@gleanerjm.com