SIXTEEN years after the project began, developers of The Club at Reading Heights — an ambitious gated community in south St James — have enlisted the help of NCB Financial Group Chairman Michael Lee-Chin in an effort to ensure potential buyers have banking support.

The return to NCB is ironic as, according to developers, the lands were originally bought from the bank — part of assets being disposed of through Finsac. It has taken millions to get it to where it is today, and there is still a lot left to do.

“We’ve invested all of the money for this project, we don’t have any debt. But our customers need mortgages on their houses and construction loans and, quite frankly, banking services,” Albert Dwoskin, president and CEO of AJ Dwoskin & Associates Inc, told the Jamaica Observer on the sidelines of recent talks with Lee-Chin.

Dwoskin founded AJ Dwoskin & Associates in 1967 and over the years that company has been in real estate development in Northern Virginia, USA. He has been coming to Jamaica for more than 60 years and has lived in the country for more than 25. The Club at Reading Heights is being done through his company Red Heights Jamaica Ltd. Lot prices start at US$90,000.

Though more than 100 lots have been sold, less than 10 houses have gone up.

“We’ve sold about 100 and we have about 100 left. It’s much more important now than it was before, because right now we are really at the point where people are starting to build houses. You can see around here where people are building really terrific homes,” Dwoskin said.

He’s hoping NCB can help those who have bought into his dream of a swanky neighbourhood, for which he has already shelled out US$3 million to put in a club house with advertised amenities such as a heated, saltwater infinity edge pool along with fitness centre, bath house and indoor bar.

Built in the hills, on the way to Anchovy, The Club at Reading Heights offers breathtaking views of the Caribbean Sea. It is accessible via the treacherous Long Hill Road that has been the scene of numerous crashes over the years but will soon be bypassed to complement the Montego Bay Perimeter Road project. Inside The Club at Reading Heights, the main roads are paved, there is a gate manned by security and the handful of houses built are impressive at first glance. There’s a heavy emphasis on renewable energy and eco-smart designs. Financial incentives are offered to owners who incorporate solar power and rainwater harvesting in their designs.

The website — replete with detailed building plans and other resources — paints a picture of developers who want to make it easy for investors. It offers advice on preferred builders that “have a track record of delivering construction projects on time and within budget”, as well as no-cost help to “create conceptual home design plans”.

“Our design and review processes are managed by an architectural review committee, appointed by the Reading Homeowners Association of which each lot owner is a member. This committee is guided by design and construction standards whose aim is to protect your investment and your quality of life by creating and maintaining a community based on shared values and mutual respect,” the website assures.

The Club at Reading Heights initially had a vendor mortgage programme, administered by Jamaica National Building Society (JN), through which qualified home lot purchasers could access “favourable rates” on 10-year loans by making a 25 per cent down payment. It remains to be seen what the new terms will be. According to Red Heights Director of Operations Milton Clayton, they are wrapping up the previous arrangement with JN as they make the switch to NCB.

During his meeting with Dwoskin at the site two weeks ago, Lee-Chin explained the bank’s interest in working on the project.

“We are enabling and facilitating our customer to really realise his dream for this magnificent property we have here. Being the National Commercial Bank, we have to do what we can to enable foreigners to be successful in Jamaica,” he told the Sunday Observer.

“We have to be welcoming because we need that foreign injection to make sure we have the growth we need to go from developing to developed. We need external capital and Mr Albert here is one such investor that we need to support and we are supporting,” Lee-Chin continued.

With NCB on board, Clayton anticipates that by the end of next year there should be about 50 houses built despite fierce competition for skilled labourers such as masons, steel workers and electricians. He said 15 to 20 building plans are with the St James Municipal Corporation awaiting approval.

Dwoskin anticipates that they will make significant progress over the next 24 months.

“Basically, we are finishing section one and at the rate we are marketing, we should be finished in two years. We’re getting ready to start section two, which is another couple hundred lots,” he said.

But even as they pull out all the stops to make the project a success, Clayton has made it clear that Red Heights is keeping a watchful eye on who they allow to buy into The Club at Reading Heights.

“We don’t sell to just anybody. We choose our customers. We do stringent background checks and all of that. We don’t have the unwanted. The unwanted can’t come in,” he said.