Waiting out the market
Published:Friday | May 28, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Trustees of the Cable and Wireless Jamaica Pension Fund have opted to wait out the downturn in the real-estate market in a quest for better offers for three New Kingston properties it wants to offload.
The Towers, New Kingston Shopping Centre and the neighbouring property that was once a drive-in cinema, now used as a parking lot, were first placed on the market in July 2008.
The pension fund has owned the properties for some six years, but put them on the market having decided to restructure and realign assets held in the fund, which are managed by Prime Asset Management.
"They will sell it if the right offer is made but we have not been instructed to advertise for sale," said a spokesman at West Indies Home Contractors (WIHCON), the Prime Asset Management sister company that is handling the sale.
WIHCON said the trustees took a decision last year not to actively continue seeking buyers for the properties but was quick to point out that if the right price were offered, the properties would be sold.
The Financial Gleaner understands that in March an offer was made for the New Kingston Shopping Centre. "The last offer we got was not acceptable," said the WIHCON spokesman.
No reason was given as to why the fund was no longer actively selling the properties but a sluggish real-estate market could be a possible reason as few properties are being taken up because of the global economic downturn.
Attempts yesterday to get a response from Derrick Jones, chairman of the pension fund, were unsuccessful.
The pension fund had put the properties on the market including the Fairview Shopping Centre in Montego Bay, which was sold to real-estate mogul Gordon Tewani for more than J$600 million last year.
Meanwhile, the Towers comprising twin structures - one 10 storeys high and the other, 12 - on Dominica Drive, with a combined area 112,850 square feet on 73,976 square feet of land, were built in 1985 by Life of Jamaica, now Sagicor Life Jamaica.
The defunct double-screen drive-in cinema, which was closed in the 1990s, is situated on the 7.58-acre property with a parking lot and a vehicle showroom.