Ashford W. Meikle, Business Reporter

A section of the Dorchester building in New Kingston. -File

Almost a month after it was confirmed by the Court of Appeal as the legitimate holder of the mortgages, the Jamaica Redevelopment Foundation (JRF) has put up for sale 31 apartments at the Dorchester Apartment Complex on Oxford Road in New Kingston.

Some eight one-bedroom and 23 two-bedroom units are being sold, individually or en bloc, by receiver/liquidator Kenneth Tomlinson of Business Recovery Services Limited.

"The injunction was lifted last December and as soon as it was lifted I was given the go ahead by the mortgagees, Jamaica Redevelopment Foundation, to proceed," Tomlinson told Sunday Business.

The 60 unit property was developed 13 years ago on just under two acres of land by General Management Company (GMC), controlled by businessman John Cooke, with the National Development Corporation as a minority party.

Dorchester Mortgages

JRF acquired the property among the assets that were sold to it by FINSAC, the Government agency that was set up to bail out bank and insurance companies after the financial sector collapse of the mid to late 1990s. Dorchester mortgages were in the portfolio of the National Commercial Bank (NCB), one of the banks bailed out by FINSAC, prior to its sale by the Government to Michael Lee Chin.

However, three years ago, GMC's Cooke - the current chairman of the Urban Development Corporation - gained an injunction preventing JRF from selling the units, on the grounds that they had been improperly acquired.

"When we took it over, a lot of the apartments were empty, and persons were moving out and so we decided to fix it up, spending $1.8 million to repaint the building, fixing the pump house and put in a playground facility for the kids," said Tomlinson.

The receiver said that his office has been bombarded with calls from the first day it advertised the sale.

"The day we put in the advertisement some 200 people called and we have got a couple offers," he said.

By conventional standards, the one-bedroom - with a starting price of $6 million - is large, ranging in size from 699 to 839 square feet and provides a potential owner with the opportunity to convert the unit into a two-bedroom. The two-bedrooms, which have two bathrooms, start at $9 million and cover some 900 square feet.

The monthly maintenance costs range from $5,000 for the studios and $9,000 for the two bedrooms and cover 24-hour security and water.

ashford.meikle@gleanerjm.com