Resort Development Opportunity
Coral Springs 960 Acres (388 ha) on Jamaica’s North Coast 40 minutes Drive from Montego Bay’s International Airport
Coral Springs Development Area Trelawny, Jamaica
Airport
White Bay Harmony Cove Coral Springs
Dry Valley
Location of the Properties
Coral Springs 350 Ac
New Court 283 Ac
White Bay 88 Ac
Coral Springs Development 168 Ac
12 Ac
Boundaries
62 Ac
Coral Springs Trelawny, Jamaica Due to different individual reasons a large contiguous tract of land has become available for sale. able
These 5 properties could afford a major resort
development
site
to accommodate
hotels,
a golf
development,
nature eco tours and possibly a marina.
course,
villa
Total size in
approximately 960 acres. The area is located on the North Coast Highway, and east of the town of Falmouth, in the parish of Trelawny.
The property is within 40 minutes
drive from the Montego Bay International Airport. The Falmouth Cruise ship pier is due to be completed 2010.
by the end of
The port facility will handle the largest cruise ships.
Property Summary
Property New Court
Size (acres) 1257-654
283.00
1257-655 White Bay Coral Springs
697-60
87.60
1399-832
350.00
1399-833
11.70
"62 Acres"
1050-972
62.00
Coral Springs 168
1425-579 1263-154
168.00
1263-155 Total:
962.30
New Court Jamerica Ltd, is owned by a Jamaican family now living overseas.
This property is currently under a
contract of sale to a Jamaican based hotelier who now finds that he cannot develop the land to the density that was first envisaged. He would therefore consider selling.
The property is part of the
Spring Estate and deemed a “Protected Area” by NEPA (National Environmental and Planning Agency). This came about when the North Coast Highway was being planned. limestone forest was taken by the Highway. the land.
The authorities then decided to “protect” the rest of
This protection affects New Court and White Bay only.
In addition, NEPA has particular
interest in the two large mangrove lakes located behind the beach. type of wading bird.
Part of the land, deemed a
These are used by a particular
A detailed development plan was submitted by the hotel developer.
He is
currently in the process of negotiating with NEPA but it is expected that and plan will be severely curtailed.
Coral Springs
White Bay Old road to White Bay
New Court
Burwood Beach (public)
New Court
White Bay
New Court
View east
New Court White Bay
Coral Springs
View south west
White Bay
New Court
Highway
View north
Larger pond New Court
View south of New Court
Proposed development for New Court NEPA have not said that there cannot be any development at New Court.
The submitted plan
(above) did not receive favour due to the density of development, although all the buildings were to be low rise. It could be expected that if New Court were part of a larger development plan that this property could be used for limited villa development on the ridges stretching from White Bay into New Court, and the area around the ponds be used for eco-tourism purposes
White Bay White Bay, also being part of the “protected area� of Spring Estate, somehow was able to obtain development approval for a Hotel/Villa resort complex of 191 rooms (see NEPA Approval attached).
The restrictions however are that the limestone forest to the higher sections of the property (to the eastern boundary with Coral Springs).
Effectively, some 50% of the land area cannot be developed.
The access to White Bay was via a parochial road running from Burwood Beach, east, along the coast in front of New Court into White Bay.
This road was destroyed about 20 years ago thus
leaving White Bay with no vehicular access.
Only short remnants of the old road still remain.
The
cost to replace the old road would be in excess of US$1 million, and cut off coastal access for New Court.
The owners of New Court (and the new purchasers) have given written permission for a new
road to be cut through the New Court land, away from the beach. shared equally.
Costs of such a road would be
However, if both properties were to be acquired by the same new owner the road
access would not be an issue.
New Court
White Bay
White Bay
White Bay beach view east
White Bay beach view west
Coral Springs Coral Springs, although sharing its western boundary with New Court and White Bay is not affected by the protected area restriction that affects the properties.
According to NEPA there are no
environmental issues that would restrict development. The white sand beach is sheltered by the reef approximately 200 meters offshore.
The water is
shallow and protected by this reef. Behind the beach is the location of the old salt mine. section that many years ago was used to mine salt from the sea.
This is a
To collect the salt the “ponds”
were flooded and the inlet then closed; the sea water dried out and the salt was taken out.
These
salt ponds are still in place and could be utilized for a number of uses (marina, recreation).
The
white sand beach extends approximately 3,000 feet (900 meters) along the coast.
Behind the
ponds the land rises to afford development land with sea views. Access:
Currently the access road is shared by the land to the east (“62 Acres”) and is located
through the existing housing scheme.
If development were to take place this access would be
unacceptable and a better route would have to be found through the 168 acre development land lying between Coral Springs and the North coast Highway.
If both properties were owned by the
same entity the access would not be an issue. Additionally, under a separate Title is a 12 acre section south of the highway with a fresh water spring on the property.
Coral Springs - View west from the “62 Acre” section
Salt pond
62 Acres
Coral Springs
Coral Springs - view north
Coral Springs
62 Acres
View west showing salt pond
White Bay
Coral Springs
Western boundary of Coral Springs Coral Springs
View north from the Highway
Salt Ponds
View South West of the Beach and ponds
Beach - View west
Beach
View North from the beach - Showing the reef
view East along the eastern section of the beach
View South inland from the beach
Beach - View West
62 Acre Section Historically, this was always a separate Title from the main coral Springs property.
In the mid 2007
a group bought the property to develop it into an exclusive villa development along the lines of the the Tryall property west of Montego Bay.
Soon after acquisition, the group also acquired a 12 acre
section from the eastern boundary of the Coral Springs property - to “straighten up” the boundary line.
This acquisition also took a good section of the beach.
In 2008 a scandal broke when it was discovered that some “500 truckloads” of sand was stolen from the property and sold to some of the Spanish owned hotels near Montego Bay. the beach and the owners decided to abandon their development plans.
This destroyed
In fact today, there is real
no evidence of the loss of the sand as natural currents have brought in more sand.
The once
magnificent beach has been replaced. The environmental profile if this land is the same as with Coral Springs - it is not expected that there would be any negative development issues.
Road access is also shared with Coral Springs.
apart from the cost of acquisition, this section would complete the Coral Springs beach area giving a full mile of white sand beach.
Coral Springs
Approximate outline in Red
View east
View north
View towards the Coral Springs boundary
View west
Topographical plan of the land
Development land - 168 acres This section of the Coral Springs property was the first to be developed.
In the 60’s and 70’s a
development scheme was approved with some of the half acre lots being sold.
This scheme was
then bought out by a company - JAMOMES - who tried to develop the land further with investments from Civil Servants.
The scheme failed and the property now under numerous larger and smaller
Titles was taken over by The Jamaica Redevelopment Foundation who eventually sold the land to Gore Developments.
There were some (around 15) outstanding claims by the original purchasers.
The Jamaica Real Estate Board advertised for these purchasers to come forward. claims.
There were no
Gore has free and clear ownership of the 168 acres under 3 Titles.
During this process, gore also bought 200 acres close to the new Stadium outside Falmouth.
This is
currently being developed and Gore would consider selling the land. It would be expected that there would be no environmental issues associated with this land as it has already obtained development approval.
The western portion could provide an impressive
entrance to the coral Springs property.
New Court
168 Acres
View west
Coral Springs
New Court
168 Acres
Current Right of Way to beach
Vol 1429 Fol 579
Vol 1263 Fol 155
Vol 1263 Fol 155
Vol 1263 Fol 154 Highway to Duncans
Pricing: The various landowners naturally are seeking the best price that the market can pay. Summarised is the expected cost scenario
Property
Price being asked
New Court
$4,500,000
White Bay
$7,000,000
Coral Springs
$27,000,000
"62 Acres"
$8,000,000
Coral Springs 168
$5,500,000 $52,000,000