Construction set to start on Harmony Cove
Published:Thursday | July 17, 2025 | 12:09 AMLester Hinds/Gleaner Writer
Construction is to get under way on the long-awaited Harmony Cove resort immediately after a groundbreaking exercise later this month, bringing tangibility to the US$1-billion luxury project more than 20 years after it was first announced by former Prime Minister PJ Patterson.
The groundbreaking date, July 22, was confirmed to The Gleaner by Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, who said that Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness would take part in the ceremony.
However, neither Bartlett nor Senator Delano Seiveright, state minister for tourism, could confirm a timeline for completion of the project, indicating that they expected that information to be made available on the day of the groundbreaking.
Harmony Cove will be situated on 2,300 acres of land in Trelawny, halfway between Montego Bay, St James, and Ocho Rios in St Ann, and will be a partnership between Nexus Luxury Collection and the Government of Jamaica.
The development will consist of a 26-storey hotel with 1,000 rooms, and a 32,000 sq ft full-service casino. It will also include group and meeting rooms, an 18-hole championship golf course designed and developed by Tiger Woods, an entertainment music facility developed by Justin Timberlake, beach and marine activities, beachfront and pool.
The project is expected to employ some 4,000 Jamaicans at salaries much higher than what is currently being paid in the tourism industry in Jamaica.
Harmony Cove will be a multiphase development, with phase one requiring a multibillion-dollar investment.
In 2004, Patterson announced the Harmony Cove project. In 2006, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Jamaican Government-owned Harmonization Limited and private developer Tavistock Group for the development of the project.
GREAT SIGNIFICANCE
At the time of the announcement, Patterson said the Harmony Cove resort would be of great significance to Jamaica as it would result in the integrated development of the tourism sector from Negril in Westmoreland to Ocho Rios.
Tavistock Group was selected from among 60 overseas investors who had expressed an interest in the project.
According to Christopher Anand, the chief executive officer of Nexus Luxury Collection, the project will be covered through financial input from the Nexus Group, the Government of Jamaica, and the issuance of an IPO, and Jamaicans will be able to purchase shares in the development.
“We want Jamaicans participating in this project, and we believe that the best way is for them to invest in the project,” he said.
Anand said small investors would be targeted for investment in the project.
“We are aiming to create the most large-scale resort destination in the Caribbean with this development in Jamaica,” he said.
He said Harmony Cove would be the third-largest resort destination and will be environmentally friendly.
Anand said the aim is to divert from the all-inclusive concept and bring a different section of Jamaica’s tourism product to life.
According to him, Jamaicans overseas will also be targeted for investment in the project.
Anand believes that Jamaicans investing in the project will be able to build generational wealth.
The company’s website describes it as a global real estate and hospitality company offering exclusive residential communities and luxury leisure experiences, focused on enhancing the lifestyles of its members.
It said that Nexus connects families through premium properties, events, and services.
The company lists properties in London in the United Kingdom; The Bahamas; New York and Florida in the United States, as well as Toronto, Canada; among other states and nations.
One of the final hurdles in bringing the project to reality was cleared recently with the passage in May of the Income Tax Relief (Large-Scale Projects and Pioneer Industries) Act, which grants tax incentives to investors who are seeking to invest at least US$1 billion in development projects in Jamaica.