MONTEGO BAY, St James – Well-placed sources have indicated that there will be an announcement, next month, about yet another major development for Montego Bay, called The Pinnacle. According to information on its sparsely worded website, The Pinnacle will consist of four apartment towers, villas, sports and leisure facilities, shopping, restaurants and a private residents club. The exclusive community will be located on the Reading Peninsular, and will overlook the Montego Bay Marine Park. It is expected to be the tallest residential complex in the west once completed. Sources say it will be 25 storeys high.

According to an internal memo from the National Environment Planning Agency (NEPA), during a Zoom meeting held on August 16, 2022, LCH Development Limited was granted permission, with stipulated conditions, for a mixed-use development at 2 Reading Pen in St James. The project was described as a housing complex of at least 50 units, a 5,000-square-metre (at least) office and commercial complex, and a marina.

The Pinnacle is just one of the projects that have left business and political leaders in Montego Bay thrilled with the flurry of development taking place in the western resort city. Also among the major projects is a manufacturing and storage facility for National Bakery. Land is now being prepared for the bakery in Catherine Hall, where Rubis recently completed the construction of a service station next to MegaMart.

These developments come on the heels of other major projects such as the US$10-million Harbour City Mall that sits in the middle of downtown Montego Bay on Howard Cooke Boulevard. Touted as one of the largest malls in western Jamaica, it is slated to be fully open later this year. Anything along the Boulevard, towards the direction of Catherine Hall and into Reading is hot right now, because of changes expected to the city once the long-awaited bypass is completed.

This is why savvy business mogul Mark Kerr-Jarrett has been expanding the offerings available to the BPO sector at his Barnett Tech Park, mere minutes away from Catherine Hall.

The city centre has not been left out. Among the residential developments coming on stream next year is the $1.5-billion, eight-storey luxury condominium complex, Montego Bay Racquet Club Condominiums and Spa.

“It’s good; things are looking good for Montego Bay as it relates to development,” president of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce Oral Heaven told the Jamaica Observer when contacted for a reaction to the flurry of activity within the city.

“Since COVID-19, we have seen significant growth. Construction never really stopped, as a matter of fact, in Montego Bay but we have seen increased construction in recent times. Things are happening in Montego Bay,” he added.

Heaven is looking forward to the jobs that these developments will bring.

“Most people say manufacturing is dying but with the injection of the plant in Montego Bay that will actually provide employment for Montegonians, provide employment in the construction industry, bakers, different people, you name it,” he said of the National Bakery project.

Deputy mayor of Montego Bay Richard Vernon is also keeping his eye on the potential for employment opportunities.

“These developments, they will generate more jobs in the construction phase and also at the end when the doors are open for services and other businesses,” he told Observer West.

“We’re therefore anticipating an influx because persons will be entering Montego Bay from other parishes to access the employment opportunities. That has been the case historically and as Montego Bay goes up another notch, we expect that to continue,” Vernon added.

The Harbour City Mall sits smack in the middle of his Montego Bay South Division and he thinks developments like these will only mean better things for the city and its people.

However, the deputy mayor was quick to point out that the local municipal corporation will be keeping an eye on projects to ensure that standards are maintained during and after construction.

“When we are talking about development we are not just thinking about a building going up, we have to look at what the building produces when it is put into use,” Vernon explained, adding that issues to be considered include everything from public safety and health to water usage.

For Councillor Dwight Crawford (Jamaica Labour Party, Spring Gardens Division), the development boom is particularly exciting as many of the projects fall within his division.

“Catherine Hall is the place, Spring Gardens is the new Montego Bay,” said a beaming Crawford.

He gave his view on why the area is so popular.

“The proximity to downtown and I think that the space is relatively safe and better organised. Downtown Montego Bay was built so many years ago, before there were cars. Now that there are cars, it is posing some problems so persons are moving to spaces where they can modernise the way they lay out their business place,” Crawford stated.

For chamber President Heaven, the only thing needed now, to complement the impressive trajectory of growth being witnessed in Montego Bay, is for the authorities to get crime under control.

“They just need to do more, do their work as it relates to curtailing the monster of crime,” he urged.