JIS Photo
A section of Caribbean Estate, a 980-unit housing development being done in phases by New Era Homes.

Dionne Rose, Business Reporter

New Era Homes 2000 Limited, developer of Caribbean Estate in Portmore, St. Catherine, will deliver 116 new houses on the market in February, the company has said.

Caribbean Estate is a two-phase development which, when finalised, would have placed 980 units on the market.

New Era is now working on the second phase, which will provide a total of 500 units.

The first 480 went on the market, starting in 2005 and were sold off in phases, at a starting price of $4.6 million.

The 116 two- and three-bedroom units - Block D - to be delivered next month are priced at $8 million and $9 million, respectively.

Caribbean Estate is located on the north-western border of Greater Portmore, running immediately along the northern boundaries of the Daytona and Monza housing schemes.

High demand

The units are sold in clusters. The next, defined as Block E, will comprise 98 units, New Era's Project Operations Manager Ronald Brown told Sunday Business.

Brown said infrastructural work was already under way prior to putting up the units, but that all of Block E had already been sold off.

Brown said delivery of Block E would be around September or October.

Leo Taddeo, chief executive officer of the company, told Sunday Business last week that demand for the houses is very high.

"We are always sold out. Every time we open a phase, we are sold out because there is a big demand," he said.

The company said, however, that units are available under Block F.

New Era is now marketing the units in that block, which will deliver another 98 two- and three-bedroom houses, said Brown.

The units are each being built on a standard lot of 3,200 square feet, with the two-bedroom priced at$8 million.

The three-bedroom units are being sold for little more than$9 million on the same standard lot size of 3,200 square feet.

Lots greater than 3,200 square feet attract an additional $120 per square foot and corner lots attract an additional $200,000.

Payment scheme

Applicants for the two-bedroom units are asked to deposit $1,185,000, with second payment of $790,000 to be made 30 days from execution of agreement.

The deposit for the three-bedroom is $1,335,000, with a second payment of $890,000 within a month.

Caribbean Estate is a gated community built with low-maintenance materials.

The exterior walls have a pre-coloured silicone-based stucco finish, which the developers say provides a durable resistant surface. Each unit has a solar water heater.

New Era, a Canadian-owned firm operating in Jamaica since 1997, has developed, in collaboration with the Government, schemes such as Angels I (1999), Cedar Grove (2000), Cedar Manor (2001) and Angels Estate II (2002).

dionne.rose@gleanerjm.com