Dunn secures permit for Kingston high-rise

Businessman Steve Dunn has secured permit from the National Environment and Planning Agency, NEPA, to construct a 10-storey building on Derrymore Road in Kingston.

Dunn received approval in April for a mixed-use development to be constructed on 1,485 square metres of land he’s owned since March 2008, according to documents pulled from the Titles Office of Jamaica. The application was made last December.

Efforts by the Financial Gleaner to get a comment from Dunn on the project were unsuccessful up to press time, but NEPA documents state that Dunn is permitted to construct a 10-floor building spanning 10,510 square metres on the property.

Across the basement and second floor, Dunn will create 77 parking spaces; the third to fifth floors, which together will span 2,778 square metres, will be office space for lease to the business process outsourcing sector; while 24 residential units are to constructed on floors six to nine.

Each floor is designed to accommodate six one-bedroom units.

The size of the investment and construction timeline on the property, which sits at the corner of Derrymore Road and Eastwood Park Avenue, are unknown.

Derrymore Road, which was renamed Courtney Walsh Drive in 2015, is attractive to commercial developers targeting clients in the outsourcing market, given its proximity to the Half-Way Tree transportation hub. Courtney Walsh Drive is already home to outsourcing company VXI Jamaica Limited, a subsidiary of VXI Global Solutions (USA), which at last count was at 1,000 employees.

Amid Dunn’s private venture into the commercial real estate business, the company he heads, Dunn’s Electrical Supplies and Hardware Limited, continues to expand.

About a year ago, Dunn’s Electrical secured approval from NEPA for the construction of a block-making plant in Salt Pond, St Catherine. Within that same timeframe, the company also relocated the relatively new ready-to-pour concrete mix production business to St Catherine.

The move was aimed at doubling its operating space for the building product business segment, having outgrown its Spanish Town Road plant. It was also reflection of Dunn’s confidence in the real estate and construction market from the accelerated demand for concrete mix.

Founded in 2009, Dunn’s Electrical built its brand from the supply of lighting and electrical products, but over time expanded the business to provide more goods within the construction sector

The privately owned company operates retail locations at Red Hills Road and Slipe Road in Kingston, and Portmore in St Catherine.

karena.bennett@gleanerjm.com