DRIVING along Howard Cooke Boulevard in Montego Bay, just metres from the fire station, a new development is taking shape. A fence, which keeps construction site dust and debris contained, also feeds into the mystery of what is being built.

The centrally located site will be the new home of the famed Marina Palms Restaurant and Bar, the flagship for what the developer has described as a boutique marina where those who travel by boat can pull up for an elegant meal.

Previously housed at Montego Bay Yacht Club and Marina until last October’s Hurricane Melissa forced an unceremonious halt to operations, Marina Palms will now be integral to what owner Deidrick Miller describes as a “multi-phase project”. It will be a 20,000-square-foot facility.

“As it stands now Marina Palms will be leading the frontier,” he confidently told the Jamaica Observer’s Real Estate on the Rock last week.

“Marina Palms won’t be the only restaurant but Marina Palms will be the first restaurant here. We have two confirmed and possibly more in the future as the project expands,” he disclosed.

It is understandable that Miller is banking on Marina Palms’ allure to get the development going. For more than five years, it has been a favourite among deep-pocketed locals and visitors, especially seafood lovers. Miller said Marina Palms’ menu will still be amazing but the inclusion of other eateries will broaden the spectrum of what will be on offer.

“Customers will have options in terms of what they would like to eat. Our menu will be primarily authentic Jamaican seafood but there are also niche markets for other cuisines that we are going to fill, ultimately,” he said.

He opted not to provide names of specific restaurants that will join Marina Palms at the venue but said they will be like “family”. He detailed amenities which he anticipates will be a major pull to get patrons to the new venue.

“There will be an upstairs section, there will be a sky deck,” he explained

“There is a dock here already and that dock will be available for persons who want to stop by for lunch by boat. It will be a boutique marina once things are completed,” Miller added.

He said diners will have the option of having meals outside, soaking up the sea view and enjoying the breeze while being smack in the middle of downtown Montego Bay.

“You can be on the water, enjoying your cocktail, enjoying your freshly caught snapper and if it rains, you have a just as beautiful indoor setting to enjoy,” he touted.

The new venue will be an opportunity for Marina Palms to be an event space for weddings, birthdays and other celebrations — something its Freeport location did not allow.

“All of those special moments that we could not have fully executed, based on the location of Freeport and the neighbours — a lot of whom are my friends and customers — where we are now, we are pretty sure that everyone would have been happy. Having events in that space would have proven to be some inconvenience to them,” he stated.

The new venue is also big enough to ensure there is ample parking, something the Freeport location — and many businesses in downtown Montego Bay — lacked.

“We have ample parking for all of our patrons that we are looking to accommodate. We are sitting on a few acres of land,” Miller boasted.

He believes these amenities will set the new development apart from what already exists.

“Generally a lot of restaurants in Jamaica, while they are on the coast and they use the coast as the selling point, oftentimes the facilities would have been lacking in terms of aesthetics and even just overall safety,” he pointed out.

Bordered on one side by the Montego Bay Fishing Village, the land on which the development rests stretches to the gates of the transportation centre which sits on the other side of the road.

Miller is banking on the central location making existing clients happy and attracting new ones. It will be a lot easier to get to, for example, from the tourist-rich Rose Hall area while still being near enough for the Freeport crowd.

“While persons would appreciate the [previous] off-the-beaten-track location, some of those same persons have expressed to me that they would have rather the product to be closer,” he revealed.

“Oftentimes, persons would have expressed that they would have visited more but because of the distance [they did not],” he added.

He sees moving from one section of the waterfront to another easier to access spot on the waterfront as a smart move.

Miller was quick to point out that the massive development is being done in keeping with regulations that govern construction in areas that are deemed to be sensitive.

“We haven’t compromised any of the environment or the ecosystem and the National Environment and Planning Agency [NEPA] would have been on board as well with anything you would have seen constructed, whether close to the ocean or anywhere at all,” he disclosed.

“The due diligence would have been done when it comes on to the environment and birds, fish and all of that,” he stressed.

Miller also pointed to the jobs the project is expected to generate while contributing to the city’s continued development.

“We are going to move into the hundreds in terms of employees because Marina Palms at Freeport was already 20 to 35 employees at that location and there will be other restaurants coming on board,” he said.

“So, off the top, you can double and triple that number,” he said.

Though clearly excited about what the future holds, Miller could not provide a time frame for when the first phase of the project will be open for business.

“We are pushing really hard. We can’t give a specific date yet but as soon as we [are] able to offer great food and the great service that our customers have been missing, we will be open. As you can see, we are working night and day,” he insisted.

He is particularly eager to once again provide steady jobs for his former employees whose lives have been turned upside down because of Hurricane Melissa .

“It was heartbreaking to see what everybody was going through at the time. A lot of our staff, they would have been severely impacted from then until now but we really held together as a team, tried to stabilise everyone as fast as we could,” Miller revealed.

“We have not operated since, so you can just imagine some of our employees are in survival mode. I would have had to move on to assist with putting food on their tables,” he disclosed.

The storm also pushed him to step up the pace on the development which Miller said has been in the works for “quite some time”. He is urging patrons to remain patient and await what will become one of the most amazing areas for dining in Jamaica.

“We’re not just opening a new location, we’re creating an entirely new standard for waterfront dining and lifestyle experiences in Montego Bay,” Miller declared.

“We’ve designed this space to feel like a true waterfront escape where the marina, the dining, and the ambiance all come together seamlessly. Whether you’re arriving by land or sea, every visit is meant to feel special. For our loyal patrons and new guests alike, the message is simple: the best of Marina Palms is still ahead and what we’re building now is something Montego Bay has never seen before,” he promised.

The space that housed Marina Palms for the last five years is now under renovation to repair damage done by last October’s Hurricane Melissa. 

Another view of the Howard Cooke Boulevard development.