Wick Hall Estate breaks ground with 221 homes planned for Spanish Town

Ground has been broken for Wick Hall Estate, a planned 221-home development on 36 acres at Featherbed Lane in Spanish Town, St. Catherine, with Prime Minister Andrew Holness, MP Dr. Andrew Wheatley, Spanish Town Mayor Norman Scott and ARC Group chairman Norman Horne among those attending the June 12 ceremony.

The project, led by Horne and the ARC Group’s housing arm, is being promoted as an affordable residential community for Jamaican families. Horne said the development would offer three home types and support buyers through a First Global Bank programme allowing eligible purchasers to secure a unit with as little as one per cent down.

Planned features include a gated layout, clubhouse, pool, park, playground and nearly seven acres of green space. Horne said the homes are to be built with solar water heaters, hurricane-resistant windows, solar-ready systems, open-plan designs, natural lighting and features suited to Jamaica’s climate.

Mayor Scott said the project reflected what he called the rebirth of Spanish Town and announced that he would take steps at the municipal level to rename Featherbed Lane as Featherbed Drive. The ceremony later also referred to the road as Featherbed Boulevard.

NCB, represented by corporate banking vice-president Kaylien Lynn, said it was supporting the project as a financier. Lynn said the development would add needed housing stock while bringing investment, jobs and wider economic activity to Spanish Town and St. Catherine.

Wheatley, the member of parliament for St. Catherine South Central and minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister, welcomed the investment and encouraged other developers to consider the constituency, saying the area was open for business.

Holness used the event to argue that private developers must play a larger role in supplying affordable homes outside Kingston and St. Andrew. He said the Government had targeted 70,000 housing solutions, including 42,000 through the NHT and 15,000 through the HAJ, but estimated Jamaica’s housing shortage at about 150,000 units.

The Prime Minister said Spanish Town was receiving attention through housing, road, health and security investments, including work at Spanish Town Hospital, a new police divisional headquarters, the Bernard Lodge development and planning for Innswood. He said organised communities with proper roads, water, waste collection and services were essential to productivity and to reducing informal settlement.