- CONTRIBUTED
Chairman of Kravitz Homes Limited, Byron Kerr (right) listens as his fellow director, Paul Smith (left) chats with the Mayor of Kingston, His Worship, Desmond McKenzie, at the ground-breaking ceremony for the Chateau Lingfield gated community development on Marley Road in Liguanea last week.
Susan Smith, Staff Reporter
THE NEW town house development which is to be constructed by Kravitz Homes Limited in Liguanea is yet another demonstration of how great the need for middle income housing solutions is within the Corporate Area. "Within six weeks we were oversubscribed," said chairman for Kravitz Homes, Byron Kerr, speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony last Wednesday..
Chateaux Lingfield, a gated community at 1 Marley Road near Liguanea, will have eight 3-bedroom town houses and 24 2-bedroom apartments on about one and half acres of land. It is expected to cost approximately J$158 million. The development is funded by the Jamaica Mortgage Bank and has approved by the KSAC and will be completed over a eighteen month period.
"People have been paying down some serious money," confirmed Anthony Harris, managing director for Access Property Investment Limited, one of the realtors for the development.
"By this time next week, I don't think we'll have any left to offer to the public," he said, outlining that there were only three of the town houses and five of the apartments left.
CONSTRUCTION COST
The current market price for the town houses is J$17million and the apartments are J$9 million each. There is also a 10 per cent escalation cap on construction cost.
Byron Kerr said outside the fact that houses are really in demand; the success on the sales of the apartment had much to do with the cost, the proposed amenities and the location of the development.
The property was formerly owned by Raymond Allen Brandon who purchased Chateux Lingfield from a large portion of winnings he made at a famous racetrack in Surrey, England called the Lingfield.
Although Kravitz Homes did not purchase the property directly from Mr. Brandon, it has chosen to carry on the tradition of the horse racing sport by designing the complex with a race horse motif. As such the units are named after famous race tracks in the United States and the United Kingdom and the apartments are given the name of famous horses instead of numbers.
Mr. Kerr said Kravitz is currently working to provide middle to lower income housing solutions in other parts of Kingston and St. Andrew and Clarendon. "We have a project slated for Clarendon which speaks to 581 housing solutions which is the affordable end of the market more geared towards the affordable NHT contributors," he explained.
There is also another nine acres to be developed by the company in Forest Hill, St. Andrew.
Chateau Lingfield is the first housing project by Kravitz Homes which was established in 2001.
