Susan Gordon, Business Reporter

National Housing Trust head office in New Kingston. - File

The National Housing Trust (NHT), known generally to provide lower and lower-middle income housing solutions for Jamaicans, is to invest $280 million in the construction of 14 townhouses in upper St. Andrew, commencing September.

The construction of the 2,000-square-foot units at Salisbury Avenue and Paddington Terrace is a joint venture between the NHT and the commissioner of lands.

In the real estate market, the upper reaches of St. Andrew is top end, catering largely and almost exclusively to the middle and upper-income brackets.

It is the residential zone for corporate bosses and business owners, diplomats, and top earners.

But NHT says Salisbury/ Paddington Terrace is not its first foray up market.

For the middle and upper income

Senior general manager for Construction and Development Donald Moore said it was not foreign to the trust to provide construction financing for a significant number of the housing units builtfor the middle-income groups, through developers.

NHT sees this project, Moore said, as a way to make reasonable returns on its investment.

In addition, Moore says in a small way NHT would also be satisfying the existing substantial demand of some of its middle-income contributors.

"Middle to upper-income earners who are NHT contributors and first-time homeowners are our target market for these units," Moore told Sunday Business.

Five townhouses are slated to be built at 37 Paddington Terrace, Barbican, on 0.69 acre valued at $18.3 million.

The remaining nine townhouses are to be located at 4-6 Salisbury Avenue on a 0.93 acre lot of land valued at $26.8 million, Barbican. The land is government owned, and provided the by commis-sioner of lands. NHT estimates it will take 13 months to complete the project, which would wrap up the development for the market by August 2008.

"The investment is estimated at over $100 million for the Paddington Terrace development and $180 million for Salisbury Avenue," said Moore.

On those estimates, the unit development cost per townhouse is $20 million.

Moore said the sale price for the units has not yet been determined, and that none of them has yet been sold.

"There have been only a few such developments since Oaklands was completed," said Moore referring to middle-income developments undertaken by NHT.

"We have provided construction financing for such projects as Oaklands, Garden Boulevard, Glendale, Caribbean Estates and Montego Bay Racket Club," he added, listing some of the housing developments by the NHT in Kingston, St. Catherine and St. James over the past 20 years.

susan.gordon@gleanerjm.com