This property sits on approximately 2
acres of land in a small cul-de-sac in the noted Sandy Lane Estate.
It has a grand entrance that is lined with Christmas Palms, which
in the old days lined the entrance to many of the Plantation Houses.
There are 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, sitting room,
dining room, large patio, kitchen, laundry room, maid’s quarters,
pool and Jacuzzi.
The house is just over 3000 sq.ft., positioned in
such a way as to have a constant breeze flowing continuously throughout
the house.
There is a Porte Cache at the main entrance to the
house. As you enter through the front entrance, there is the powder
room on one side and a cloak room on the other. It continues into
a very large room for dining and a more formal sitting room.
There are 3 large jalousie double doors that open
onto a very large patio. This gives the house a feeling of openness
that is an essential part of Caribbean living.
The pool with Jacuzzi is situated in front of
this patio, nestled among the tropical foliage so typical of the
island.
The bedrooms are located on the right side of the
main area. The master bedroom is very large with a walk-in closet
and bathroom en suite.
The 2 other bedrooms are quite large also and
share a bathroom. All of the bedrooms are air-conditioned. There
is another room on the opposite side of the patio that can be utilized
as another bedroom, office, or family room. This room has a bathroom
en suite.
And Barbadians can expect to see tens of millions of foreign
dollars rolling in to support it.
Industry sources are warning, however, that while the boom will bring
many jobs and much income, ordinary Barbadians hoping to undertake home
construction or improvement will be hard pressed to find materials or
labour, given the large number of massive commercial projects with which
they will have to compete.
Barbadians borrowing money to add apartments to their homes in time to
catch some of the Cricket World Cup 2007 visitor traffic could end up
disappointed. One home owner reported being told by a prospective contractor
this weekend: "You can't be serious about doing this next [this]
year? You could as well start thinking about 2007!"
Here's just a taste of what the competition will be like for people in
home construction:
* Kensington Oval redevelopment in full swing this year - $90 million.
* The new state-of-the art prison in St Philip to replace Glendairy -
more than $100 million.
* Expansion of the University of the West Indies onto the Lazaretto site
at Black Rock - $25 million.
* ABC Highway expansion and construction of flyovers - $120 million.
* Apes Hill golf project (overall US$400 million) - this year, US$100
million.
* Phase 2 of Waterhall, St James Polo project - $160 million.
* Phase 4 of Millennium Heights on the St Michael/St Thomas border - $20
million.
* New seven-storey office complex at Warrens - $30 million.
* The 500-house Lakes Retirement Community at Mount Brevitor, St Peter
moves into full swing - $150 million.
*
New mall opposite Automotive Art at Welches, St Thomas - US$60 million.
* Clearwater Bay
Resort on old Paradise Beach Resort site - US$300 million.
Construction magnate Sir Charles Williams, agreeing that this year will
be "without doubt" the biggest ever for the island as far as
construction was concerned, revealed that his organisation was in the
final stages of the construction of a new $6 million plant at Lears, St
Michael to double its capacity to produce concrete blocks, as well as
a new $2 million plant to supply ready-mixed concrete from its fleet of
trucks.
"The important thing to keep in mind is that the country will benefit
tremendously from a massive injection of foreign exchange from people
who want to own homes here," Sir Charles said.
For example, he said, of the 60 lots being prepared in the first phase
of the Apes Hill project, 40 have already been sold and "the vast
majority has gone to foreigners". Homes valued at between $3 million
and $8 million will be constructed on these lots.
Similarly, construction of 20 duplexes has already started at the Waterhall
Polo Project, and these are being sold at US$800 000 each. These, Sir
Charles said, are also attracting the attention of rich foreigners.
"I can also say for a fact that unless there is some hold-up with
planning permission, the Paradise project will also definitely get underway
this year. The investors in that project are ready to go," he added.
A major Trinidadian investor is also throwing in millions of dollars in
oil money with Barbadian counterparts to built a new Welches Mall on 20
acres of land that until a few years ago was earmarked for a massive K-Mart
store.
This new mall, however, will comprise three sections: normal supermarket-type
facilities, apparel/boutique outlets, and a massive entertainment-leisure
component with family-style restaurants, cinema facilities and bowling
alleys.
While all this is taking place, the West Coast condominium craze is also
expected to pick up, particularly in St James. Sandy Cove, near Coach
House Restaurant in Paynes Bay, will move into high gear; Beachwoods,
opposite the Cubana disaster monument in Paynes Bay, will be started;
as will Heron Court, 28 townhouses on 4.7 acres near the old Porters Sugar
Factory. Each of these is expected to fetch more than $1 million. A new
multi-million-dollar luxury golf project is also expected to start at
Black Bess, St Peter.
In the midst of all this, along with expansion of the ABC Highway to relieve
congestion, some of the worst roads in the island are to be rebuilt, using
new technology that will rip up as much as one foot of the existing surface,
recompact it, and then lay a new cover with a 15-year guarantee. roymorris@nationnews.com
$3b boost - Friday 10, December-2004
by Albert Brandford
BARBADOS stands to benefit from an additional $3 billion in foreign exchange
inflows, through the villas component in the final phase of the multi-million-dollar
luxury resort complex at Sandy Lane, St James.
This was disclosed last night by Prime Minister Owen Arthur as he wound
up the three-day debate in the House of Assembly on the 2004 Financial
and Economic Policy Statement.
The anticipated fireworks against the Opposition never materialised as
Arthur instead calmly defended the measures he outlined in the Budget
to change the island’s export culture.
The new Sandy Lane complex will involve construction of 111 villas over
a ten- to 15-year period on 280 acres stretched mainly across the Green
Monkey Golf Course.
Sources last night said villas would cost upward of $10 million, including
the land. Construction on the first set will not get going until after
the Green Monkey, which is already completed, is opened sometime in 2005.
Arthur said Barbados must stop its love-hate relationship with such projects
because of the “politics of envy” which caused it to have
an anti-developmental approach.
He assured the House that there were some things which Government had
to do such as capping land taxes, noting that most of the investment here
was coming from Britain where there was such a cap.
“We are not doing this because we want to pass money to white,
wealthy people,” he explained, “but because these people come
from a culture that is accustomed to a cap on land tax.”
Arthur said Barbados was at an “interesting and delicate stage”
but he was not underestimating the balance of payments problem, saying
he would not “play with it” or cause any problem in the form
of a loss of reserves through the actions of the Government.
“We are putting in place measures to change the export culture,
broaden the export base,” he added.
The Prime Minister said he accepted the point
made by Leader of the Opposition Clyde Mascoll that those measures would
take time.
He stressed, however, that for a country like Barbados, the best and
most immediate means of dealing with balance of payments issues was not
on the current account but on capital inflows.
According to him, long-term private capital inflows were some of the
best means by which a country could deal with balance of payments difficulties.
Arthur said Barbados was at a happy stage where there were a large number
of high-quality, high-value projects which the country must get serious
about implementing to boost reserves and foreign exchange earnings.
He cited approved projects such as the retirement villages in St Peter,
another for the Barbados Association of Retired Persons in St Philip;
a project to improve water distribution in the north; Phase III of the
Sugar Hill project and the transformation of Harrison’s Point into
a base for inland tourism.
