Failing to secure the desired return on investment almost five years after taking control of the Fort Clarence Beach in Portmore, St Catherine, Guardsman Hospitality Limited said it remains optimistic that things will turn around as more phases of the project come on-stream.

Managing Director Laura Heron told the Jamaica Observer this week that although more than $100 million has already been spent to undertake initial developments at the over-eight-acre beach property to make it operational, much more work is needed to get it to the desired levels.

“Since reopening the property, the problem we have been facing at Fort Clarence is to put the model in place to get back a return on our investment. The development plan we have crafted is very ambitious and in light of challenges, things have been really slow in getting off the ground and as such we are still in a big loss position at Fort Clarence,” she told the Business Observer.

Guardsman has been managing the property since 2019 under a 25-year lease arrangement with the State-run Urban Development Corporation (UDC). Under that arrangement it plans to execute a long-standing development project crafted around an upgrading of the beach park to enhance the visitor experience. Among the slew of planned upgrades are the enhancement of site infrastructure, including improving the bathroom and changing facilities as well as the addition of food and other recreational amenities.

The pace of development at the popular beach facility which was impeded during the COVID-19 pandemic is still stalled in the first phase of upgrades. The property reopened to the public in 2022 but still has not been able to make substantial gains from the $1,000 entry fee now charged to access the beach. This, even as expenditure continues to mount and patronage fluctuates.

“Despite millions in capital investment, much of which we are still not able to recover, the property continues to reflect an annual operational loss and it’s going to take a while to come back from these losses, especially as we continue to maintain staff and do the necessary upkeeps of the beach,” Heron said.

And like most beaches around the region, the annual sargussum floats that act as a deterrent to beachgoers, due to the pungent smell when it is decaying, has seen the management of the Fort Clarence beach spending significant sums just to try to keep it under control with a system to be installed in the sea.

“If we are to continue in removing sargassum from the shore, this will be costing us nothing less than $250,000 weekly,” she added.

Speaking to the much larger parts of the $600-million development plan, which is to see the build-out of splash pools and other water park-type amenities, Heron believes this will help to increase traffic at the facility as it also attracts more classes of the beach-going population. At present its Puerto Seco Beach facility in St Ann earns the bulk of its revenues from tourism-related activities.

Outside of its beach facilities Guardsman Hospitality, as the property development arm of the larger Guardsman Group, also manages a number of other properties including Konoko Falls, also in St Ann and Hope Zoo in Kingston.

Meanwhile, the company continues to scan new opportunities to acquire or upgrade more properties.

“There are some things we are looking at, of which I can’t say much right now, but let’s just say that people have approached us, even if not for an acquisition, but to at least put in a management system for certain properties as they acknowledge our competence in the area,” she stated.

Following the forging of a recent partnership with the Tourism Product Development Company Limited (TPDCo), the entity, as part of its corporate social responsibility, is to provide maintenance works for the newly refurbished Old Folly Scenic Park in Discovery Bay, St Ann.

Based on a signed memorandum of understanding (MOU), the hospitality entity has committed to initially care for the attraction over a five-year period from February 1, 2024 to January 31, 2029.

“This project does also come at a very big cost to us, as to maintain it on an ongoing basis we’re looking at close to half-a-million per month just for the care and upkeep of plants and other amenities at the facility. It comes, however, as a part of our public-private partnership and an expansion of previous community outreach projects, so we are committed to getting it done,” Heron said.