May 2015 Financial News

Sagicor ready to roll on next big project

May 13, 2015

Sagicor's property company is moving ahead with a 21-acre complex at Mineral Heights, near May Pen, Clarendon, that will eventually house a mall and residences.

The project will focus, initially, on the commercial development of shopping space, on which Sagicor Group Jamaica is spending $700 million, said executive vice-president and chief investment officer, Rohan Miller.

"There is no budget for the residential phase as there is no concept drawing as yet," he said.

Construction of perimeter fencing began in February and is expected to last about five months, but Miller said the development of 63 shops won't get under way until the end of this year. Chin's Construction is building the fence, but a contractor is still to be selected for the shops.

The development was first mooted in 2011 and planning permission was granted two years ago. Then the full project was costed at $2 billion.

Sagicor previously indicated that the first phase would be a commercial complex, on 9.6 acres of land, incorporating a supermarket, pharmacy, hardware store, cinema, retail shops, a gas station and a police station.

Miller now says the gas station will be done later, and that the police station has been scaled down to a police post.

The residential complex was initially conceptualised as a gated community of two-bedroom semi-detached townhouses, but will be redesigned, Miller said.

The project master plan was designed by Interplan Planning Consultants, with Martin Addington as principal planner. The development is being implemented through Sagicor Property Services Limited.

Sagicor's last real estate project was the 32-unit Strathairn apartments in Kingston, which had been put on hold two years earlier, but was later completed between 2011 and 2012 at a cost of $350 million. Before that came the Winchester Business Centre, a commercial development, also in Kingston, which was finalised in 2007.

In 2009, the company placed $4 billion of investments on hold, including a luxury housing project at Seymour in the so-called golden triangle of Kingston that was expected to cost $1.6 billion, and a $1 billion 500-unit parking garage for New Kingston.

Source:
Avia Collinder
R03;avia.collinder@gleanerjm.com
Jamaica Gleaner
Wednesday May 13, 2015

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/business/20150513/sagicor-ready-roll-next-big-project