Easton Douglas, chairman of the embattled National Housing Trust (NHT), rebutted claims at the weekend that the State-run housing body paid $18 million for 9.12 acres of Outameni lands, saying the actual sum was $12 million, or $1.3 million per acre.Land – $12,739,700

Douglas sought to correct widely repeated claims that the Trust paid $18 million per acre for the lands, and gave a full breakdown of the value of the total acquisition — for which it paid $180 million — based on a 2011 valuation by David deLisser and Associates.

“Had the land been vacant, the price per acre would indeed have been $18 million,” Douglas told the Jamaica Observer. “But the land value indicated in the deLisser valuation is $12,739,700.”

Douglas, a three-time Government minister who has an MSc in urban land appraisal, said the NHT paid $180 million for land, buildings and related developments valued at $311,163,800 by deLisser, licensed land valuators, acting for Outameni, and $280 million by independent valuator Norma Breakenridge and Associates, chartered valuation surveyor and licensed real estate dealer.

“What we, in fact, achieved is immediate profit of $100 million or $131 million just by the purchase alone,” said Douglas. “That sounds like good business to me.”

Delisser’s $311 million value was broken down as follows:

Great house – $58,496,800

Theme Park:

Building where shows are done – $79,836,500

Display area – $79,037,800    

Walkways – $39,516,000

Other buildings – $8,211,400

Juice bar – $1,770,600

Jerk centre – $1,714,000

Games room – $2,751,200

Washrooms – $1,330,600

Security post – $64,700

Ticket office – $198,000

Outbuildings:

Building one – $1,000,700

Building two – $3,389,700

Building three – $273,200

Building four – $58,400    

Tanks – $5,082,000

Land development – $15,246,000

Responding to criticism that the NHT did not purchase the intellectual property, Douglas also explained that it would have been unwise to do that before ascertaining what had caused Outameni to run into financial problems.

“By proceeding this way, the Trust is keeping its options open as to its future use of the property. We could buy the intellectual property or goodwill, or we could decide against it. That also is good business sense,” he suggested.

The NHT owns several other properties in the vicinity of Outameni, including the 1,000-home Stone Hedge developed at a cost of $1 billion; the 709-acre Dry Valley now in the design stage; Harmony Cove jointly owned with the Jamaica Development Bank (JDB); Silver Sands, owned by JDB, NHT and private interests; and the 30-acre Windsor property.