Susan Gordon, Business Reporter

The Spanish Court Hotel under construction in New Kingston.

Spanish Court, the uptown business complex that is being converted into a 108-room hotel by Christopher Issa, should be ready to welcome paying guests by October, Issa has told the Financial Gleaner.

Issa is a scion of one of Jamaica's best-known business families and used to head the family business, the House of Issa, that has interests in motor vehicle sales, hotels and property.

But Christopher is using his own personally held vehicle, Richard James Associates, to develop the property he acquired from the family.

US$12 million spent

Issa said that he has spent over US$12 million on the acquisition and redevelopment of the 40-year-old complex on St Lucia Avenue, New Kingston, that used to house a variety of shops and offices and identified by its Spanish architecture and other motifs.

Spanish Court will join a bevy of business/meeting-type hotels in Kingston, a market that has become increasingly competitive in recent years with the refurbishment of several properties.

Spanish Court, a 30,000-square-feet property with over 160 parking spaces in a section of the city where parking can be extremely difficult will, according to Issa, go after the meeting niche in the market.

"The issue is meeting space," said Issa.

The hotel's two largest conference rooms, he said, could hold a maximum of 30 persons each .

Issa was confident that he had made a good business decision.

"Based on the projections we did, we felt it would be a good investment," he said.

susan.gordon@gleanerjm.com