Changing the face of a parish
Published:Sunday | February 13, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Avia Collinder, Business Writer
While Spanish Town, the capital of the parish of St Catherine, may be viewed as a kind of rotting borough and a zone of internecine crime and decayed infrastructure, it might yet be overtaken by relentless change, what with high levels of planned development for nearby communities.
Howard Johnson Jr, CEO of Howard Johnson Realty and president of the Jamaica Realtors Association, says the parish has become the number one locale for starter homes. And, it is likely to hold the title half a decade into the future, too.
Some 53 multi-unit private- developer projects in various stages of completion are currently listed with the Real Estate Board for St Catherine, in addition to more planned by super-housing development agency, the National Housing Trust (NHT).
Already, the parish is the leading mortgage-sale zone for the NHT which has been granting, by numbers, one third of all mortgages - over 2,000 of approximately 6,000 mortgages granted annually since 2008 - for this area, indicating a concentration of demand.
The Trust currently has on the drawing board, seven developments inclusive of two-and three-bedroom units, serviced lots and one bedroom units plus town houses, for St Catherine. The areas targeted are Portmore Villa, Caymanas, Bernard Lodge, Orange Grove, Twickenham Park, Cherry Gardens and Hellshire Green.
According to the Real Estate Board, private developments registered for 2010 going into 2011 were ARC Housing & Finance Limited with 141 units for Old Harbour; Audor Development Limited with 95 units for Linstead; B.C.R. Industries Company Limited with 2,597 units for the Village of Colbeck Castle in Old harbour; Gore Developments Limited at Whim Pen, with 1,388 lots; Albert Kennedy with 11 units for Woodland (Church Pen); MJC Master Builders Limited with 72 units for Seville Meadows; Otto Frank with 14 units for Rodney Heights, and 150 units for Charlton in Ewarton; St Jago Hills Development Company Limited with 10 units for Sligoville; Subdivision & Housing Limited with 141 units for part of Claremont & Shaws, and Vista Enterprises Limited with 29 units for St John's Heights in Spanish Town.
Added to these and NHT developments are the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) plans for Caymanas, including conversion of 1,240 acres into housing. The new homes will range from low-income units to mansions priced at J$40 million to J$50 million, targeted at the wealthy and returning residents.
The UDC has earmarked 751 acres for a highland cluster of 300 stand-alone houses, offering a panoramic view of surrounding parishes with an upscale, lowland plantation-style housing estate of 400 units, is also on the cards.
Joy Douglas, UDC general manager said at the time of project launch delete the recession would probably affect the phasing of the development but "the general view is that within two years, we should see recovery of the higher end market". Targeted home buyers include retired Jamaicans returning home from abroad.
According to Johnson Jr, "housing prices in Kingston are considered high for person who are middle-income earners and would like starter homes".
Cheaper land
For developers, he said, "when building in St Catherine, the cost of the land is far cheaper than a comparable sized land in Kingston & St Andrew." Not many large plots of land are available in the island's capital, either, he notes.
Meanwhile, St Catherine's new highway has made it a bit easier to commute to Kingston where many who live in the parish hold jobs.
But, even the employment pattern may change over time, as commerce and support services develop in relation to the needs of the new communities.
Already Johnson notes, "most of the amenities that one would have sought in Kingston and St. Andrew are now available in St Catherine."
Better days yet might evolve for the parish's somnolent capital.
Edwin Wint, CEO of La Maison Property Services Limited and immediate past president of the realtors" association of Jamaica states: "With the supply of suitable lands for development dwindling in Kingston and St Andrew, and the bidders driving up the land prices, it is natural to have the expansion of urban development away from the Central Business District to the adjacent suburbs and further to the subregional centres of St Catherine. We are now seeing the urban sprawl reaching as far as the rural-urban fringe of bordering parishes.
"Increased residential developments in St Catherine and the amenities of commercial enterprise to support this pattern of land use are evident; such as the development of out-of-town convenience shopping, government service facilities and leisure, entertainment facilities, and other means of employment creation. Private and public developers are responding to the market demands for affordable housing, and regeneration and renewal of inner city areas, and this is driving government policy and the investment pattern to satisfy these realities.