BY: ALESIA EDWARDS - Observer staff reporter alesiae@jamaicaobserver.com
Sunday, August 30, 2009
OCHO RIOS, St Ann - Plans are afoot to construct two multimillion-dollar housing developments in the parish, one along the White River and the other on approximately 300 acres of idle land at Britton Ville near Claremont.
The developments will be undertaken by St Ann businessman Dani Gonzalez, who will be partnering with US-based Tri-Steel Corporation to construct more than 2,500 housing units. The units are to be constructed entirely from steel and will become the first of their kind to be built in Jamaica and the Caribbean.
Project manager, Michael Quirke, said these new and modern houses will be safer, stronger and healthier with higher quality than any other form of construction available in the island. He said the houses will be able to withstand fire and other natural disasters as well as moulds and termite infestation.
“It’s a building method that has been used in America for the last 30 years, but it just hasn’t taken off in the Caribbean and we are going to use Jamaica as a launch pad to teach the rest of the Caribbean how to do this,” Quirke said.
The Bureau of Standards has already granted approval for this type of structure and the developers are now awaiting approval from the St Ann Parish Council to start the project.
Quirke said with this type of construction, homeowners can move into their new house within 15 days from the day the construction starts. He explained that all the building materials are ready-made and that all that needs to be done is for the building to be fastened together.
“The houses can be built completely by women, you don’t need men at all because its all light gauge, it’s nothing heavy . it’s very simple to do,” Quirke said. “Once the developers in this country see our building methods they will change their own, because it is far cheaper to build this way and the quality is much better.”
He said although the plan is to construct up to 3,000 two-bedroom apartments in a high-rise cluster-style at Britton Ville, with the Mammee Ridge Estate Project it has to wait on approval from the council to determine how many houses can be constructed and the height of each building.
“The parish council has to tell us how many, you’re only allowed to have 33 people per acre in a housing unit, but when you put it as an apartment system they double or triple those figures, it depends on the amount that is necessary for the area that will justify us building,” Quirke explained.
However, he said once approval is granted work will start immediately and that the first phase of the Mammee Ridge Estate development will see 100 units being constructed first and batches of 100 until the approved amount is completed.
The units at Mammee Ridge Estate, Quirke explained, will be exquisitely designed with room for expansion and will be of very high standard and are to be sold for between $6.5m and $7m. He said the type of construction makes it easy for the houses to be sold for far less than what other houses of the same size are being sold for.
The White River Project, which will be called White River Club, will be of a much higher standard since the plan is to build those houses as part of a complex equipped with its own amenities including power supply, Quirke said.
“It’s residential, very high-end market, so we are really targeting business people . It’s a private club, so it will have its own restaurant, own bar, satellite system and its own power system, so if you want to work from home and eat you don’t have to leave the comfort of the club,” Quirke said, adding that 22 houses and eight townhouses are to be constructed there.
Those units, which will consist of three bedrooms with equal bathrooms, are to be sold for US$450,000 or the Jamaican equivalent and will each be constructed on 2,000-square-foot lots along the river coast.
Quirke said as part of the development plan for Britton Ville, there are also plans to include a bus service which will transport people to Ocho Rios three times daily as well as a commercial centre. Fifty-five of the 305 acres earmarked for that development will be used for recreational and infrastructural development.
