President and CEO of Sagicor Group Jamaica, Chris Zacca, has no qualms about admitting that his company took a bet on Spanish Town, St Catherine, when it decided to invest $6 billion in the construction of a mixed-use development on Brunswick Avenue.

However, just months into its soft opening, Zacca says that decision is already bearing fruit.

“We took a little bet. It wasn’t a big bet because we have faith in the people of Spanish Town and we got tremendous support from the councillors and the Members of Parliament. The bet has paid off in my view,” Zacca told the
Jamaica Observer.

On Wednesday, Sagicor officially launched New Brunswick Village, said to be the first gated community of its kind in St Catherine. The initial concept, according to development partner John Bailey of Bailey Williams Limited, was to undertake a purely commercial development, but after conducting research and having conversations with neighbouring property owners about the safety of the area, the idea evolved.

In 2018, the team decided to pursue a mixed-use development instead.

“Sagicor Group made a choice to invest in an area where I’m sure people looking on might be very sceptical, but once the economy starts to turn, any businessperson knows that the time to invest is as the economy starts to pick up,” Prime Minister Andrew Holness said during the launch ceremony.

“I’m happy for this investment. I consider it an anchor development of this nature and I’m certain that property owners along this stretch and in the environs are now going to take a second look at Spanish Town,” Holness added.

That scepticism he is referring to is around crime in the town in years gone by. But that’s all changing.

In fact, many new investors are looking to Spanish Town as crime in the town plummets. Dilapidated infrastructure in and around the town also creates an opportunity for the redevelopment of structures built more than five decades ago.

For Sagicor, its focus has largely been on addressing pressing issues around affordable residential and commercial options in the old capital, which now faces congestion and limited space with the growth of trade. Under the British, the square was rebuilt in the mid-1700s, following a grid-like plan by John Pitcairne and was replete with Georgian architecture.

It is now considered one of the world’s finest Georgian squares. The new development is intended to capitalise on the town’s rich history while introducing a modern element.

“From the outset, we aimed for a transformative impact,” Zacca said.

“When I look around me, I can’t tell you how happy I am to see the culmination of collective efforts in the completion and official opening of the New Brunswick Village today,” he continued.

The development features 40 commercial units and 89 residential spaces, including a mix of 2-bedroom town houses, one and two-bedroom apartments, along with studios on approximately 12 acres of land.

It brings on the market approximately 88,000 square feet of “Class A commercial space” in the old capital with a mix of key services to include financial, restaurant, pharmaceutical, courier, and fitness/health entities amongst others.

According to data from Sagicor, 50 per cent of commercial units are now sold to establishments such as R A Williams Distributors, Imperial Optical, and Island Grill, while another 20 per cent have been reserved by pension funds administrator Sagicor Life Jamaica for lease to commercial clients. Some of the lease tenants include Scoops Unlimited, which produces the famous Devon House I-scream; Fontana Pharmacy; Domino’s Pizza; a supermarket; courier company Mailpac; Timber Lounge; and children’s clothing store Creep in Closet.

“The commercial side is moving faster than we had expected and the clients are happy with their purchase. Island Grill has achieved record country sales at their new location here and RA Williams is a growing pharmaceutical company, and their main business is here. On the residential side, we expect them to move just as good. They are at the finishing stage and so as the units get promoted more and as more businesses come here…we don’t have any doubt that it will be very successful,” Zacca told the Caribbean Business Report.

Of the total 89 residential units, roughly 30 per cent are under offer or under contract.

The apartment units are priced between $23.3 million for the ground floor and up to $38.8 million for upstairs units on the residential blocks that goes up to five floors. Meanwhile the two-bedroom town houses are going for $40.8 million. They are targeted at middle-income professionals seeking to live in a community with enhanced security features and amenities, such as an esplanade or boardwalk, a central green space for dining and shopping, a fitness trail, outdoor gym facilities, and more.

New Brunswick Village is one of two developments undertaken by Sagicor Group in St Catherine in recent times. The company has also broken ground on a 30-acre land in Bernard Lodge, Portmore, which is slated to be a massive commercial centre for restaurants, supermarkets, business process outsourcing, and pharmaceutical operations.

“That’s in the works,” Zacca said.

Greater demand for achievable housing

The company, which has long been involved in the real estate development business, currently does not have any additional residential projects in progress. However, Prime Minister Holness has tasked its management with providing more “achievable houses” for the citizens of Jamaica in the future.

“The only challenge that I see with this is that you are all building aspirational houses, that’s a middle-class pursuit. But the real deficit in housing is in what I am going to be terming achievable housing, otherwise called affordable or low-income housing,” Holness said.

He reasoned that Catherine’s Estate, a development undertaken by the National Housing Trust 3.3 kilometres from New Brunswick Village in Bernard Lodge, garnered the interest of more than 26,000 Jamaicans for just 500 housing units. The houses were priced between $6 to $7.5 million.

“I heard what the prime minister said, and in fact, we are in preliminary discussions with developers around affordable housing. We think what we have here is affordable, but it is also aspirational,” Zacca said.