$7b for upmarket St Ann houses
Published:Friday | June 11, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Dionne Rose, Business Reporter
Principals of residential property developer New Era Homes 2000, Leo Taddeo and Benedetto 'Benny' Persichilli say they are now putting together US$80 million or J$7 billion, possibly with help from the National Housing Trust (NHT), to finance a project to deliver 224 upmarket beachfront apartments at Drax Hall in St Ann.
The venture by the Canadians over the past 10 years had brought to the market noted St Catherine developments such as Angels I, Angels Estate II, Cedar Grove, Cedar Manor and Caribbean Estate.
Persichilli told the Financial Gleaner that the company had already received the requisite building approvals and that construction of the high-end two-bedroom and three-bedroom units on 14 acres of land would start next month. The apartments are to be sold for between US$350,000 and US$400,000 or between J$30.7 million and J$35 million.
The NHT is a possible co-financier of the project. However, the developers have not said how much they will ask the Government-owned housing agency to put up, and the state entity told the Financial Gleaner that the developers have indicated an intention to apply for funding; however, no application had come in up to yesterday. The remainder of the funds is to come from the partners. The NHT has an interim-financed programme through which it lends money to private developers and public-sector agencies to assist in the provision of affordable housing for contributors. The agency normally lends up to 80 per cent of the projectcost at low interest rates.
It was not immediately clear if the scope and purchaser profile of the proposed development would meet the development project lending requirements of the taxpayer-funded NHT.
Even as they press ahead with the new venture, Taddeo and Persichilli confirmed that they were are winding up two companies, which they said have been dormant for years. The companies are New Era Homes Jamaica Limited and New Era Homes Portmore Limited.
Taddeo said the liquidation was necessary as those companies had been partly owned by a third partner, Domenic Bellissimo, who has since died.
Bellissimo was a partner in the companies before going on his own in 1999 to build homes in Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth, and undertake a development at Waterworks in St Andrew.
"When we first to came to Jamaica, there were three partners - myself, Benny and Domenic Bellissimo (and) we had two companies - New Era Homes Jamaica and New Era Homes Portmore," Taddeo said.
"Benny and I started New Era Homes 2000, so those companies are no longer needed."
Liquidation notices
Notices of the liquidation of the companies were posted in the press in April. With the liquidation of the two companies the group now has two companies, New Era Homes 2000 and BNL, said to be a manufacturing company started five years ago. BNL operates from offices at Jam World in Portmore.
"It is separate (and) what we want to do in construction is keep them separate from your manufacturing," he explained.
The company is said to produce blocks, bricks, paving stones, patio slabs, culvert pipes, sanitary manholes, windows and doors, among other construction supplies it provides for New Era 2000 projects as well as other large-scale developments.
"It is 14 acres and we are going to create 224 apartments, underground garage, marble corridors - high-end," Persichilli said of the project now on the drawing board.
Two swimming pools for adults and one for children, tennis courts, 14 gazebos, children playground, two restaurants, health club, mini mart and a private beach are listed as some of the amenities the complex will boast.
The development will be comprised of 168 two-bedrooms and 56 three-bedrooms. The two-bedrooms will be 1,483 square feet or 138 square metres in size, with the three-bedroom apartments measuring 1,873 square feet or 174 square metres.
Persichilli said the units will be done in seven phases, with the first phase expected to be completed by January or February next year. The development is projected to be completed within 36 months.
Taddeo hopes to go to the market in September. He pointed out, however, that the units would be presold.
"Most of the funding is for the infrastructure and (based on) how the market turns around, if we sell fast, we'll move faster; but if you sell slow, you go slower."
Brisk sales, he said, could bring forward the construction time to 24 months.
Taddeo pointed out that a similar approach was used with the two-phased Caribbean Estate, a 980-unit residential development on the north-western border of greater Portmore, running along the northern boundaries of the Daytona and Monza housing schemes.
He said in that development only 18 townhouses were still available for sale at $13 million.