Fahmi mall, San San hotel placed on the market

Three years after the passing of Baroness Sigi von Stephani Fahmi, who is credited with some of Portland's most startling architecture, including Trident Castle, two of her creations - a mall and a hotel in San San - have been placed on the market.

The asking price for the 80-suite Jamaica Palace Hotel, a property which features its own art gallery and five acres of land, is US$10 million (J$860 million).

Nazar Fahmi, said to be a former banker, has declined comment on the sale listings of the Palace Hotel and the mall, originally named the Village of St George, but the Financial Gleaner was reliably informed that the decision is connected to the passing of his wife, the Baroness.

The real estate doyenne - a woman of German origin - is credited with the construction of what is described on the website www.portlandja.com as "the most unique shopping mall in Jamaica" inside the parish capital of Port Antonio.

The mall's asking price is US$1 million (J$86 million).

On www.jamaicatravelandculture.com, the mall, now more popularly known as the Fahmi building, is described as "a tribute to European architecture and features interior and exterior sections of Georgian, Gothic, Tudor and art deco architectural styles."

Constructed between 1995 and 1997, the site notes that on its heyday the complex was the home of upmarket boutiques, a café and a nightclub. There are now 44 units totalling 16,600 square feet and expandable to 20,550 sq ft.

The Palace Hotel itself is described in Margaret Morris's Tour Jamaica as a "neo-Palladian confection of white columns and marble floors with a swimming pool in the shape of the island of Jamaica. Other palatial accents include two luxurious boutiques - one operated by Errol Flynn's widow Patrice Wymore - huge rooms, high ceilings, elliptical peacock beds."

Frommers.com also attributes the lavishly ornate Trident Castle, to Baroness Fahmi who pursued the extended building project during the 1970s and 1980s. She sold out to architect Earl Levy, and then erected Jamaica Palace in 1989, on the eastern shore of Turtle Crawle Bay.

Michael Lee-Chin has since acquired Trident.

Paul Rhodes, owner of the spiritual and nature retreat Great Huts in Portland and a retired internist from Washington, described Mrs Fahmi as a brilliant artist and builder, and a humble and good person.

"Her husband, Nazar, mourns her death deeply," said Rhodes. "She was my friend, and has left her positive mark on Port Antonio in so many ways."

business @gleanerjm.com