Within a year of ground being broken for the first phase of the long-awaited US$1-billion Harmony Cove resort project in Trelawny, developers Nexus Luxury Collection say they will offer Jamaicans an opportunity to invest in the mega development through an initial public offering (IPO). Harmony Cove is expected to finally get under way later this year.

Nexus Luxury Collection is a portfolio of private clubs, hotels, and destination resorts as well as luxury resort communities, events and experiences, and hospitality concepts.

Nexus’s CEO and senior partner, Christopher Anand, was quick to explain that going public was not triggered by a lack of funding but was a decision taken by the Government and his company to provide an opportunity for Jamaicans to invest in Harmony Cove.

“This project is a joint venture between Nexus and the Government of Jamaica and it’s actually through two subsidiaries of different entities that some of you have pension money in. So, indirectly, the entire country is invested in Harmony Cove. However, we want to give individuals residing in Jamaica as well as outside of Jamaica the opportunity to become directly a participant in the project. So we are going to issue an IPO after we started the project, within one year of ground breaking. So we’ll get the project going,” Anand said while providing an update on the development on Thursday during Let’s Connect, the monthly online town hall meeting hosted by Jamaica’s Ambassador to the United States Audrey Marks.

“All our money is in place to do this; however, we want people from Jamaica to be able to invest in the project. And the idea here is, we want people to have exposure to what will be a first-class investment opportunity as well as a first-class investment,” Anand added.

He gave assurance that the project — which sits on a 2,300-acre property and is “almost exactly between Montego Bay and Ocho Rios on the North Coast in the parish of Trelawny” — will get under way within a few months.

“I think it is important to understand there’s a sequencing to how this works. The Government has some things it is committed to doing, which are very important. Most importantly is… both sides have agreed to restart the design work. That will allow us — if the other pieces are done by the Government as they have outlined — we should be able to break ground this year,” Anand said.

“So we are excited. If everyone does what they need to do, let’s get going. This is different; we just need to finish these last set of things which everyone is committed to doing. The ball is now in the Government’s court,” he added.

Ambassador Marks revealed that during a meeting last week the Government gave a commitment to push for the ground breaking later this year.

“I think the minister of finance said it’s now in the 100-metres time frame. So we are expecting that within another maximum 60 days we should be able to have a definite date. But that is what I understand from listening to the prime minister and ministers of government speak a week ago,” the ambassador added.

Meanwhile, Anand said that the development will be environmentally friendly and will target Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification.

“Importantly for us, not only is it going to be state-of-the-art in every respect, but it’s going to be what we would call ESG friendly — social responsibility, governance responsibility, and importantly environmental responsibility. So that means, in every aspect of the design, construction, and then the ongoing operation of the project, we want to hit… LEED Gold [certification]. This would make it the largest project in the Western Hemisphere that would be ESG qualified. So we’re incredibly excited about that. It’s something very important to us, for Jamaica,” Anand said.

LEED is the world’s most widely used green building rating system. Certification provides a framework for healthy, highly efficient, and cost-saving green buildings, which offer environmental, social, and governance benefits.

“This is something that is important to Jamaica as a nation, and hopefully we can help lead the way here with a first-class project, built from the ground up, to be done in a first-class fashion and in an environmentally responsible way,” Anand added.

He also announced that, similar to what was done at its Albany property in The Bahamas, Nexus will be paying employees at Harmony Cove higher wages than those offered by competitors.

“If Harmony Cove is successful, there’ll end up being three or four Harmony Coves in the country. So our objective here is not to monopolise the country, but I think it is intended to lead. [We] will lead not only in how we develop and build and operate the project but how we employ people, how we invite Jamaicans to participate in the financial success in Harmony Cove, to participate in the usage of Harmony Cove, and it’s something we’re really excited about,” Anand said.

He also promised that families will be welcome at Harmony Cove.

“Families are very important to us and everything we do. So this has been designed to be very family friendly. I think that’s an area Jamaica can do better in. I think it’s known as a place to go, have a wonderful holiday as adults. I’m not saying there aren’t kid friendly facilities there, but I think what we’re going to do is invest significant sums of money and make sure kids feel like they’re a part of this. And what that does is that broadens your market because you’re now attracting families, not just adults,” Anand said.

He revealed that the first phase of Harmony Cove will be a 25-storey hotel tower with 1,000 first-class rooms, full service casino, five-star restaurants, meeting space, an 18-hole Tiger Woods golf course, music studio, a series of pools, among other offerings.