Ocean’s Edge depositors getting refunds

Depositors in the Ocean’s Edge Country Club residential development have started to receive their refunds.

The project at Discovery Bay, St Ann, has been stalled for 13 months with little information coming to depositors who paid down between US$50,000 and US$100,000 to secure units priced at US$495,000 and US$695,000.

The development, which features 16 luxury oceanfront town houses, is a project of Genesis Construction. The head of the company, Norma Clarke, was again said to be overseas and was not reached for comment.

Financier for the project, Sygnus Real Estate Financing, said it has stepped in to handle the refunds. But Sygnus Group’s Chief Investment Officer Jason Morris would not say how many depositors were refunded, only that the process had begun.

Deposits made on real estate units are held by law in an escrow account which can only be accessed under special circumstances.

“The escrow account is standard industry practice aimed at protecting depositors. Once they want a refund, obviously it would be there because the money was never touched,” Morris told the Financial Gleaner, when contacted.

Industry regulator, the Real Estate Board of Jamaica, started taking interest in complaints about delays in the Ocean Edge project in May.

In correspondence dated October 6 seen by the Financial Gleaner, the board said “continuous monitoring inspections conducted by our inspectorate have made us acutely aware of challenges faced by this project”, and that discussions were held with attorneys for developer Genesis and financing company Sygnus Real Estate Finance ‘to ascertain the prospects of Ocean Edge’s completion’.

The regulator stopped short of declaring Ocean’s Edge a failed project under Section 33 of the Real Estate (Dealers and developers) Act.

“The discussions reveal that the project is inundated with financial, legal and other issues and at this juncture, it does not appear that the completion will likely be achieved,” the REB said, before disclosing that a rescue plan had been conceptualised which Sygnus would be “communicating posthaste”.

Attorney Norris Troupe, at the Montego Bay offices of McMorrison & Williams, said he was not at liberty to comment on the matter, citing attorney/client privacy issues. He could not say whether the firm’s client had been refunded. Troupe undertook to confer with senior counsel and revert to the Financial Gleaner as soon as he made contact but there was no word up to press time.

Real Estate Board CEO Phillip Chambers declined to comment on Ocean Edge’s status, saying the matter was at a delicate stage.

“We cannot comment in any way on that. There’s a standing arrangement that before any of the parties involved can comment publicly that all other parties have to be advised,” Chambers told the Financial Gleaner.

“We can only say that we continue to work towards a resolution that is equitable and fair to all,” Chambers said.

business@gleanerjm.com