WIHCON To Develop Townhouses In Portmore After Jacaranda

West Indies Home Contractors Limited (WIHCON) wrapped up its Jacaranda project in St Catherine in just over two years, instead of the three years originally estimated, and is about to move on to its next project.

On Monday, a project repre-sentative said take-up was faster than expected, allowing the earlier completion date.

WIHCON said it spent $3 billion developing the 66-acre property at Old Harbour.

Jacaranda comprises 586 two-bedroom residences, 540 ‘Medici’ semi-detached units, and 46 ‘Tropicana’ townhouses.

The next St Catherine project, this time slated for Portmore, is a much smaller development comprising 76 townhouses, to be called Le Bermonde, in which WIHCON plans to invest $700 million.

Construction of Le Bermonde begins this month with a estimated completion date of May 2016.

The townhouses are targeted at “young single professionals, young families and civil servants,” said the developer. They are priced at $13 million to $14 million.

For Jacaranda, which is targeted at the same demographic, the units have appreciated from the original base prices announced in March 2013.

At that time, the plan was to offer 46 townhouses at $9.86 million each; and the 540 semi-detached units at $6.357 million per unit, subject to “certified escalation”.

WIHCON said the Jacaranda prices have been affected by rising input material and labour costs over the life of the project.

The townhouses have sold out but Medici units are still available at a base price of $6.95 million, the developer said.

Jacaranda was financed through loans from the National Housing Trust. WIHCON had said at Jacaranda’s launch that its new business model was to provide smaller homes with land space so that the units can be expanded as homeowners’ needs grow.

avia.collinder@gleanerjm.com