ST JAMES, Jamaica – Prime Minister Andrew Holness, officially broke ground for the Pinnacle residential development in Montego Bay, St James on Saturday.

Being spearheaded by LCH Developments, the project entails the construction of four 28-storey apartment blocks in the Reading area of the second city over the next four years.

The private Pinnacle community will sit on its own peninsula and have over 500 apartments overlooking the city’s marine reserve. It will entail villas, sports, leisure and shopping facilities, restaurants and a private residents’ club.

Holness said that the project brings a new level of real estate development to the island.

“I want to congratulate the principals of LCH Developments. It is a visionary project, it is a project that shows quite a bit of bravery and I know that there are many looking on and saying this is substantial,” he noted.

“You are not only breaking ground today, but you are also doing something that is groundbreaking in Jamaica,” he said, adding that the development will cement Jamaica’s brand in the lifestyle segment of the hospitality market.

“It will add a new dimension to our tourism, and I am very happy for that, because our tourism product, which has carried us for the last 50 years, must diversify,” the Prime Minister said further.

In bringing greetings, Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett, noted that the project will serve as a response to the call by millennials for developments that incorporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations.

“We are excited about that because this is creating a new opportunity for that new demographic to embrace Jamaica. The advent of this product also opens a new door in terms of city tourism. Montego Bay has been known to be a resort town, we are taking it now to another dimension,” Bartlett pointed out.

For his part, Chief Executive Officer of LCH Developments, Yangsen Li, said the project marks the start of a brand-new chapter, not just for Jamaica but for the Caribbean.

He pledged that the environment will be protected, assuring that the development will not harm the landscape.

“We are committed to balancing development with preservation in terms of nature. Our project isn’t just about construction, it is a promise to honour and preserve the natural beauty that brought us here in the first place,” he noted.

In bringing greetings, Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs and Member of Parliament for St James West Central, Marlene Malahoo Forte, said that the Pinnacle marks the beginning of another phase of the island’s journey to first-class status.

Others in attendance at the groundbreaking ceremony were Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security Dr Horace Chang; Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Christopher Tufton; Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister Homer Davis; Leader of the Opposition, Mark Golding; Deputy Mayor of Montego Bay, Councillor Richard Vernon; and Custos of St James Bishop the Hon. Conrad Pitkin.

-JIS