Buchanan seeks compensation in JMB takeover of Pointe Estate
Published:Sunday | January 15, 2012 | 12:00 AM
Correction & Clarification
The story incorrectly stated the housing units were 7,403 square feet to 14,376 square feet in size.
The measurement relates to housing lots. We regret the error.
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Paul Buchanan is fighting in court the takeover of Discovery Pointe Estate by financier Jamaica Mortgage Bank which placed the real estate development in receivership last year.
The residential development at Mount Boon in Discovery Bay,
St Ann, is now in the hands of receiver/manager Ken Tomlinson of Business Recovery Services Limited.
“We are just selling the remaining lots and finishing up the infrastructure,” said Tomlinson, who spoke with Sunday Business on January 6.
“Some 32 lots are currently available, while pumping stations and water connections for individual lots are left to the installed. The roads are complete as well as the electricity. Only water is left to be done,” he said.
Proposals have been invited from qualified contractors to complete development of the infrastructure.
The incomplete units on sale were originally designed to be two and three-bedroom units ranging from 7,403 square feet to 14,376 square feet.
In 2007, land economist Paul Buchanan of Experts 2010 Company Limited partnered with Discovery Development Limited to develop the estate in two phases.
Patrick Thelwell, general manager of JMB, said last Monday that the primary loan for the development was sourced from his bank but he provided no further details, other than that the property had been placed in receivership some eight months ago.
Thelwell said he was unable to comment further on Pointe Estate and any other issue until a new JMB board was appointed. The current board at the state agency resigned after the change of Government in late December.
However, a copy of the defence against Buchanan’s suit filed by JMB, indicates that the bank had agreed to lend at least
J$239 million to the developer and his company, and had issued J$205 million.
Loan agreement breached
Buchanan is alleging that JMB breached the terms of the loan agreement by failing to pay sums certified by his quantity surveyor, failing to accept the documentation provided by the quantity surveyor, refusing to allow withdrawals from an escrow account, and is seeking unspecified damages.
Leighton Miller, one of the lawyers representing Buchanan, said the case could go to mediation.
JMB has declined to comment on the court case.
“I can’t divulge any information at all,” the bank’s company secretary, Donna Samuels-Stone, said last Thursday.
In the documentation filed by JMB in the Supreme Court, the bank denies breaching the agreement, and counters that Experts 2010 and Buchanan failed to repay the loan within the period agreed, and did not provide “timely and proper” sales reports.
Pointe Estate was designed to provide 60 residences in two phases by mid-2009, financed by loans and equity partners in New York, Buchanan told this newspaper in 2008.
The developer said then the project was valued at about J$1 billion.
JMB also charged in its court filing that Buchanan did not complete construction.
Correction & Clarification
The story incorrectly stated the housing units were 7,403 square feet to 14,376 square feet in size.
The measurement relates to housing lots. We regret the error.
----------------------------------------------------------
Paul Buchanan is fighting in court the takeover of Discovery Pointe Estate by financier Jamaica Mortgage Bank which placed the real estate development in receivership last year.
The residential development at Mount Boon in Discovery Bay,
St Ann, is now in the hands of receiver/manager Ken Tomlinson of Business Recovery Services Limited.
“We are just selling the remaining lots and finishing up the infrastructure,” said Tomlinson, who spoke with Sunday Business on January 6.
“Some 32 lots are currently available, while pumping stations and water connections for individual lots are left to the installed. The roads are complete as well as the electricity. Only water is left to be done,” he said.
Proposals have been invited from qualified contractors to complete development of the infrastructure.
The incomplete units on sale were originally designed to be two and three-bedroom units ranging from 7,403 square feet to 14,376 square feet.
In 2007, land economist Paul Buchanan of Experts 2010 Company Limited partnered with Discovery Development Limited to develop the estate in two phases.
Patrick Thelwell, general manager of JMB, said last Monday that the primary loan for the development was sourced from his bank but he provided no further details, other than that the property had been placed in receivership some eight months ago.
Thelwell said he was unable to comment further on Pointe Estate and any other issue until a new JMB board was appointed. The current board at the state agency resigned after the change of Government in late December.
However, a copy of the defence against Buchanan’s suit filed by JMB, indicates that the bank had agreed to lend at least
J$239 million to the developer and his company, and had issued J$205 million.
Loan agreement breached
Buchanan is alleging that JMB breached the terms of the loan agreement by failing to pay sums certified by his quantity surveyor, failing to accept the documentation provided by the quantity surveyor, refusing to allow withdrawals from an escrow account, and is seeking unspecified damages.
Leighton Miller, one of the lawyers representing Buchanan, said the case could go to mediation.
JMB has declined to comment on the court case.
“I can’t divulge any information at all,” the bank’s company secretary, Donna Samuels-Stone, said last Thursday.
In the documentation filed by JMB in the Supreme Court, the bank denies breaching the agreement, and counters that Experts 2010 and Buchanan failed to repay the loan within the period agreed, and did not provide “timely and proper” sales reports.
Pointe Estate was designed to provide 60 residences in two phases by mid-2009, financed by loans and equity partners in New York, Buchanan told this newspaper in 2008.
The developer said then the project was valued at about J$1 billion.
JMB also charged in its court filing that Buchanan did not complete construction.