Growth & Jobs | MoBay developer bringing luxurious designs to local market
Published:Tuesday | April 25, 2023 | 12:21 AMJanet Silvera/Senior Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
THE JAMAICAN developers who broke ground for the $1.5 billion Montego Bay Racquet Club Condominiums and Spa last Saturday will pump another $3.5 billion into the development of two additional mix-used properties in the tourism capital.
In the next five years the company, Boria Limited, founded by Montegonian Eugene Ffolkes Jr, will spend $8 billion bringing luxurious design and amenities to the local market, targeting expatriates and returning Jamaicans.
At least one of Ffolkes’ four projects will be situated in the Golden Triangle in the capital city, Kingston.
Addressing guests last Saturday during the groundbreaking ceremony, Boria’s head, who, along with other family members inherited Montego Bay Racquet Club from the late hydraulic engineer Eugene Ffolkes, described the project as one that will focus on health and wellness.
“This will be the Caribbean’s first social-wellness club designed to help residents and guests achieve the perfect balance of physical and mental well-being,” declared Ffolkes, giving far more than a sneak preview of the project,which will have a ground floor that will house a social-wellness club featuring tennis and pickleball courts, a spa, a world-class gym, and a cafe.
Combined, the four developments will deliver a total of over 120 residences when completed. They include one- to three-bedroom high rises that follow the company’s mix-development model, each with a different flavour, depending on the location and the experience that those specific owners desire, said Ffolkes.
However, the first in the series, Montego Bay Racquet Club, will offer a range of sizes from 1,270 to 3,500 square feet. Each one- and two-bedroom unit, Ffolkes said, has been ingeniously designed as a corner unit, providing breathtaking views of the sea from every angle.
“And with only five units per floor, residents can be assured of their privacy and exclusivity. But the real showstopper is the eighth floor, which features a sky lounge and infinity pool with wrap-around views of the harbour, city, beaches, and mountains of St James and Hanover. This space is truly a testament to the luxury and sophistication of this development and is sure to be the envy of all who see it,” he predicted.
The project’s financiers, Jamaica National Bank (JN), said it has been calling for more investment of this type in St James because as a city in the west, it boasts more land space, and with the construction shortage. offers more opportunities, especially as a tourism Mecca.
“Montego Bay continues to be one of the areas fit for luxury development of this scope, and I am happy developers are responding to my call,” JN’s chief financing officer, Earl Samuels, stated.
Beyond the demand for tourism, there are several Jamaicans overseas who are returning home and are looking for ideal spaces to settle and live, Samuels posited. He is encouraging gated communities and smaller condominium-type options for these Jamaicans with the spending power.
Samuels said JN, as a responsible financial institution, aims to ensure that the development is carried out that balances the elements to achieve sustainability, “And that is designed in the project. We don’t want to be associated with anything that does not conform to government ordinances,” he argued.
The bank, he said, will also be offering mortgage financing to investors in the units.
The historic occasion had in attendance two government ministers – Edmund Bartlett and Dr Horace Chang – as well as Opposition Spokesman on Tourism, Senator Janice Allen.
All three have intimate knowledge of the Montego Bay Racquet Club, which played an integral part in the lives of many youngsters in Montego Bay who had access to play tennis and badminton on the courts of the facility no matter colour or creed.
“I can say with full assurance that this Government welcomes investments such as this. I am particularly pleased to see an increasing number of Jamaicans investing in the industry,” Bartlett told the gathering as he recalled Racquet Club as one of the most revered hotels in Montego Bay, spanning the period from the 1950s to the 1970s.
The units at the modern-day condominium will be priced between US$380,000 to US$1 million.