More middle-income townhouses for Hellshire
Published:Sunday | August 1, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Dionne Rose, Business Reporter
Another housing development is about to hit the market in the Hellshire area of St Catherine, and the developer says he is targeting the upper middle-income home buyers.
Gregory Duncan, managing director of Global Designs and Builders Limited, said he is investing J$109 million to develop 12 townhouses at Johnson Hill.
Duncan, who eight years ago opened his housing-design business, Global Architecture Draughting Limited, said the units are being sold for J$18 million to J$20 million.
Revenue from the units, assuming all are sold at the going price, would double the investment being made by Duncan.
Johnson Hill Estate is the second townhouse development Duncan is undertaking in that parish.
Global Designs and Builders Limited, is being used as a vehicle to develop the property, which is located on 1.25 acres of land.
The size of the houses is planned for 2,000 square feet to 2,300 square feet on lot sizes of 3,000 square feet.
Duncan said the selling points for his houses include ceramic and porcelain tiles, solid wood doors, a built-in generator system, a back-up water system, a 1,000-gallon water tank and double-glaze windows. The development, which is slated to be a gated community, will also have a play area for children, a tennis court, a basketball court and pool area.
Duncan said construction began in 2009 after building permits were received from the Portmore Municipal Council and the National Environmental and Planning Agency.
Approval from the Real Estate Board is pending, he said.
Financing
The project is being financed by the Jamaica Mortgage Bank. The houses are expected to be completed by February next year, with a model unit already built.
Duncan said the townhouses are being targeted at returning residents and local professionals.
Prospective buyers are required to make a 15 per cent deposit, with the balance payable on the completion of the units.
“The deposit is refundable if you cannot complete (the purchase), or have a change of mind,” the developer told Sunday Business.
“The only aspect of the deposit that is not going to be refundable is the interest payment, because that would have to go towards preparation of documents by the lawyer,” he said.
The 33-year-old, who is the sole shareholder of Global Designs and Builders Limited, said he has more than 12 years’ experience in the construction sector, having worked with West Indies Home Contractors’ (WIHCON) planning office, where he developed his architectural-drawings skills.
Since leaving WIHCON in 1999, Duncan said he has managed several residential and commercial developments islandwide, most of them in Hellshire and communities in Portmore.
He listed someofthese,including including an apartment complex consisting of six two-bedroom townhouses at Woodpecker Avenue, also Hellshire, which was completed in 2007.
On the commercial side of his operations, he built the Portmore Town Centre Plaza, located beside the Portmore HEART Academy and close to the Portmore Mall.
He was also responsible for the construction of Oak Park Plaza at Braeton, a 16-shop commercial development for which he was project manager. Duncan, who himself lives in Hellshire, said the building of homes in the area was one way of contributing to the development of his community.
“I have done other units, but I have been concentrating on this area because I think it is underdeveloped,” he said.
“With the features that Hellshire has to offer, in other countries this would be prime property. My vision is to contribute to Hellshire being developed into a middle- to upper-income area.”