The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor NEW Providence Development Company is "aggressively shooting" to have its $30 million Old Fort Bay Town Centre fully operational by Christmas 2012, Tribune Business was told yesterday, with Royal Bank of Canada and FOCOL Holdings (Shell) committed to take two of the development's one-acre 'pads' on Windsor Field Road. Marcus Grammatico, New Providence Development Company's vice-president of finance and secretary, said the developer had "Letters of Intent for almost 100 per cent of the retail space" in the Old Fort Bay Town Centre's Phase One. Legal documents for the upstairs condo space in the two buildings immediately to the east of the development's 38,000 square foot 'anchor store', Solomon's Fresh Market, were being "finished up", with New Providence Development Company having already received the "first" wave of potential tenants examining the possibilities. "In the next two weeks we'll be paving the parking lot and walkways that serve the first two retail buildings immediately next to Solomon's," Mr Grammatico told Tribune Business. "Once people see it working, and tenants fitting out their stores, it will pick up the pace and things will start moving. "We've seen a lot of inquiries on the office condos from persons wanting to move out west to get away from the hustle and bustle of downtown. People are coming out here because it's relatively congestion free, and easy to move in. It's like living in a different island." As for the seven one-acre sites lining Windsor Field Road, Mr Grammatico confirmed that three remained available, with four "either sold or under contract". Two of the latter, he added, have been acquired by Royal Bank of Canada and BISX-listed FOCOL Holdings for use as a bank branch and gas station, respectively. "It's going to be the same persons currently occupying space at the Lyford Cay Shopping Centre, Royal Bank and Shell," said Mr Grammatico, when asked who Old Fort Bay Town Centre's bank and gas station tenants were likely to be. "We should see Royal Bank break ground shortly." Although FOCOL Holdings' latest proposed gas station was only just down the road from its Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) Shell station, Mr Grammatico said the present station at the Lyford Cay Shopping Centre - which New Providence Development Company operates - had "seen very little dip" in business volumes after the latter opened. Telling Tribune Business that FOCOL Holdings would be challenged to do its Old Fort Bay Town Centre gas station better than the recently-opened LPIA model, Mr Grammatico said the developer thought the latter would "cannibalise" the Lyford Cay station "a little bit more". Meanwhile, the Old Fort Bay Town Centre's Phase Two is also progressing quickly. This offers another 30,000 square feet of retail and office space, and Mr Grammatico said: "You'll see that coming out of the ground quickly; in record time. "On the bottom retail floor, they've all signed up, and we've worked with tenants requiring additional internal plumbing lines." "We're shooting to have all the site work, parking lots and aprons completed in time for Christmas," the New Providence Development Company executive added. "We'd like to see a fully functional Town Centre for Christmas 2012. It's aggressive, but the contractor [SMG] is very good, and we have to give them a lot of kudos for completing Solomon's in one year. We're hoping for something a bit more impressive here." Mr Grammatico said SMG had around 140 workers and sub-contractors at the Old Fort Bay Town Centre last week. When finished, the 21.5 acre development is expected to provide 200 full-time jobs spread across the first two phases. Some 92 of those have already come through AML Foods' Solomon's Fresh Market opening. A new road, travelling south from the Old Fort Bay Town Centre, will stretch all the way to the $1.4 billion Albany development, further opening up western New Providence for growth and development. "A lot of people will not have to travel out that far," Mr Grammatico said. "People will not have to travel further than the airport." New Providence Development Community has previously said it was in "the very initial stage" of discussing how to attract a St Andrew's-type school to the area, as it sought to create a real community in western New Providence that could find all its needs there. The developer may also move on its planned 70-acre light industrial park once the Town Centre project had been completed.