American school impacts rental market around new location

Saturday, November 21, 2009 5:43 PM

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Business

Steven Jackson, Business Observer writer

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

An artist's impression of the American school.

The movement of the American International School of Kingston (AISK) to its new US$5- million ($400 million) complex is affecting upscale rental demand in Kingston 6.
Real estate agents expect rental demand to rise for homes in Millsborough and Hope Pastures renting for US$2,000 or more as an increasing number of expatriate workers leave homes in Norbrook, Cherry Gardens and Manor Park. The only thing that will keep the remaining expatriate in the Kingston 8 will be Hillel Academy, a rival school.

"Let us face it," Anya Levy, of realtors Valerie Levy & Associates, told the Business Observer, "Once the school relocates to Kingston 6, coupled with the fact that the US Embassy is in Kingston 6 any new foreigners that have anything to do with the embassy or the school will choose Kingston 6. Because of the proximity to work and school."

Levy said that when expats come with a family its either Hillel Academy or the American School. "There is no third choice".

"Now if they choose American they are likely to live in Kingston 8 but with the school moving obviously they're going to choose Kingston 6," said Levy, who works heavily with expats. She cautioned that it will not be a mass exodus of rental properties from Kingston 8. The reason according to Deborah Cummings Century 21 is that the move had "already stated" with the movement of the US embassy. But she did say that the shift would continue.

"I think it will encourage more, especially those who may not have wanted to because their kids were at school in the other part of town (in Kingston 8)," Cummings told the Business Observer.

"I do believe it will continue as more people want to be closer to the school and to work, so it will definitely push it forward a little bit more.They will definitely be looking a bit more (for rentals) in that area."

The school plans to move in the second half of the year.
Originally, the American school was in the Kingston 6 area on lands where the US embassy currently occupies.
However, the school moved to Kingston 8 four years ago, at the beginning of the construction of the new US embassy.

A child going to the school pays on average $1 million a year. There are currently 250 students: 30 per cent American; 30 per cent international; and 40 per cent Jamaican. An AISK teacher told the Business Observer that he was tipped to move early to Kingston 6 to avoid rental hikes.

"It is possible that the international community may want to live more in the Kingston 6, particularly those who have kids at AISK," noted Nicola Melhado in charge of special projects at AISK. "Whatever the percentage of the rental market that is made up of US embassy personnel will opt for this area as the school will now also be very close to work. It also depends on rental housing stock available in Kingston 6 as the larger inventory is Kingston 8. So you are looking at mostly Millsborough and Jacks Hill, Barbican and Cherry Gardens."

The school sits on the nine acre compound behind Jamaica College. It will have at least six buildings including an auditorium, administration, Library, art studio, athletic complex, elementary, middle and High School classrooms, pool, amphitheatre and clock tower.

"The new school plant is being constructed on nine acres in Hope Pastures behind Jamaica College," explained Melhado who is on the school's redevelopment committee. "So far we are spending US$5 million on the new complex. We will increase that spend over the coming years as we add even more facilities to our campus."

Other committee members include: Mark Mahfood, Monica Ladd, Eric Flohr, Sean Goudie, Peter Melhado, Ian Buchanan, Douglas Stiebel, Nicola Melhado. The school's teachers are all university educated, some with masters and doctorates.

"We have the most qualified teaching staff in the island, with international teaching experience along with some of the best teachers Jamaica has to offer. This exposes the students to a wide range of teaching styles and best practices. Our teacher salaries are very competitive so we can recruit the best," she explained.

AISK is a laptop school ensuring that every child becomes computer literate: "We are a 1:1 laptop school. Starting in Grade six it is mandatory for all the students to have MacBooks, and all facets of curriculum instruction are filtered through this medium. Therefore the school environment mimics most tertiary environments as well as the working world. It also fits with the fact that students today are a demand for a technologically advanced school as it reflects their life; cellphones, internet, (and so on). To the best of our knowledge, we are the only true 1:1 school in the Caribbean."

The school plans to increase the size to 460 students within 10 years. At that point they expect the student complement to be reversed at 60 per cent local and 40 per cent international.

"We have a very conservative projected figure to get there in 10 years. But I think it will move faster than that, it's a very conservative projection. We have been growing at a steady 15 per cent a year. And we have not been able to take in that many students right now given our space constraints at the current location," she explained.

The AISK is not a subsidiary of the US embassy. Rather it is an private institution with Peter Melhado as its chairman.

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