Barita seeking partners to develop its real estate assets holdings
Published:Sunday | June 30, 2024 | 12:09 AMSteven Jackson - Senior Business Reporter
Barita Investments Limited isn’t ready yet with a date on when it plans to start developing the large property holdings it controls.
“We are doing market studies and getting the market information to put forward the right inventory into the market because our strategy is to develop for divestment,” said Barita Investments CEO Ramon Small-Ferguson at the company’s annual general meeting held on Friday in Kingston.
“We do not intend to occupy all these structures,” he said.
The company’s caution comes amid the softening of certain segments of the real estate market. Currently, residential housing starts from the large state-led developer National Housing Trust have dipped 56.5 per cent in the March quarter, the biggest decline in the overall real estate market, which was down 4.5 per cent, according to the Planning Institute of Jamaica.
On Friday, Small-Ferguson said the timing of real estate projects was key.
“It is going to be very important to be guided by the state of the market both the timing and nature of the developments we put forward,” he said.
Barita said it has been working arduously to find a portfolio of partners necessary to bring its assets to the development phase.
“We need the right partners in place,” he said. “We are an investor, primarily in respect to this real estate portfolio, and manager.”
Last year, Barita Investments Limited expressed its intention to start developing some of its portfolio in 2024 with expectations of funds flowing from these development in around 2027.
Its affiliate MJR Real Estate holds a portfolio of high-value real estate assets, inclusive of Reggae Beach, 286 acres; Green Castle, 1,600 acres; Eden Gardens, two acres; the former Kingston ice factory, three acres; and Windsor Estates, 100 acres.
The company’s parent, the Cornerstone Group plans to build its headquarters on the Eden Gardens lands at Lady Musgrave Road in New Kingston.
Small-Ferguson said that the company has done pre-construction works at that property.
“Other elements of the portfolio will be developed before Eden Gardens and we are well into the development phase,” he said. “We are seeing a clear path to development timeline. I will not discuss when we will in this meeting but there will be disclosures,” the Barita CEO said.
The Barita Unit Trust Real Estate Portfolio, which pools the MJR affiliate’s real estate assets, improved by 60 per cent in the period January to August 2023, growing the portfolio from $5.6 billion to $9.3 billion, according to latest data on Barita’s website.