The Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) has put up for sale a property it owns next door to its head offices on Harbour Street, downtown Kingston.

The JSE announced yesterday that offers are now being considered for the sale of the property — listed at 38a Harbour Street — which it acquired two years ago from the Bank of Jamaica in large part to prevent the empty building from becoming a harbour for undesirable activities.

“We acquired the building from the Bank of Jamaica a couple of years ago because it was near to 40 Harbour Street and it was pretty much becoming derilict in that you had the (squatters) and all of that there,” JSE general manager Marlene Street-Forrest told the Business Observer yesterday.

“Naturally, that’s not an environment that you want the stock exchange to be near to,” she noted. “So, that’ the major reason why we acquired it and ensure that security was there and the place was fixed up.”

The property lies on 1,798.13 square metres of land, with building area of 1,656.07 square metres. Street-Forrest said that the property since it was acquired has only been used to provide extra-parking for JSE customers and not for administrative purposes.

She also disclosed that several businesses have expressed interest in acquiring the property so far but no agreement has been reached.

“Big corporations to smaller companies have expressed an interest in acquiring the property,” she noted.

Dilapidated buildings dot the streets of downtown Kingston, that has over several decades seen its status as the nation’s most vibrant commercial centre ravaged by crime and neglect.

However, the district has been experiencing a revival of late with major commercial interests either setting up businesses there or possessing plans to do the same. Telecommunications provider Digicel, for instance, announced last year that it will be moving its corporate headquarters to the district in 2012, breaking ground on the 210,000 square-foot property on the Kingston waterfront, which will house its 11-storey, 155,000 square-foot office tower. Additionally, businessman Gassan Azan opened a multimillion-dollar bakery at the intersection of Beckford and Princess Streets in the district.

“There are serious companies that want to come downtown,” said Street-Forrest.

“We are in the market for the sale of the building, for persons who possibly want to come back downtown, which we feel is a good place to be,” she noted.

The JSE general manager did not state how much the property was purchased for or how much the JSE was hoping to fetch from the sale.