By NEIL HARTNELL
Tribune Business Editor
nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
A Bahamian developer is aiming to unleash $1bn in new real estate within the next five to six years as it likened this nation’s high-end property market to Long Island’s upscale Hamptons community.
Matthew Marco, marketing director and licensed realtor at Bond Bahamas, told Tribune Business it is “very bullish” on the country’s real estate prospects given that he had “never received more responses to an e-mail blast in my 20 years in real estate” than the recent launch of the final unsold 14 lots at Balmoral.
Jason Kinsale, Bond Bahamas president, was Balmoral’s original developer through his Aristo Development firm, which is affiliated with the realtor. Mr Marco revealed that they plan to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in not just completing the Aqualina development at Cable Beach but other upcoming projects at Love Beach and Goodman’s Bay.
He disclosed to this newspaper that some $250m will be invested in constructing Amaya, a Love Beach development featuring 40 residences priced between $4m and $12m, which is likely to launch towards the end of 2024 and target residents from high-end New Providence communities such as Lyford Cay and Old Fort Bay who are seeking to downsize.
And Mr Marco also confirmed that Mr Kinsale has acquired the Fairview property at Goodman’s Bay - a deal first revealed by Tribune Business last year. The property is currently being “land banked” with its value expected to appreciate further as a result of a GoldWynn penthouses project that is viewed as driving real estate values in the area even higher.
“We’re very bullish. We have about $1bn in inventory from our projects over the next five to six years,” he told Tribune Business. “Between Love Beach, Goodman’s Bay and Cable Beach, there’s a lot of good things happening. There’s just no more land left in New Providence.
“We wouldn’t be doing this if we didn’t believe in the market and what is happening here. We see The Bahamas booming for the foreseeable future, no question, and are putting our money where our mouth is.... We’re becoming the Hamptons of south Florida.
“People want waterfront, canalfront properties which are $100m in south Florida. Here we are one-third of that price. We’re still trading at a discount. The average person does not realise there’s still a lot of upside value here and it’s a nice place to live.”
Mr Marco said “in excess of $100m” has been invested in Balmoral’s build-out since the community’s development began in 2008, with some $250m set to be spent on both Amaya and Aqualina. The number of construction jobs these projects will create has yet to be determined.
“That will be about 40 residences with three to four bedrooms from $5m to $12m,” he confirmed of Amaya. “That’s going to sell-out in a matter of weeks when we launch it at the end of this year. We’re in design mode right now. That will be targeted at Lyford Cay and Old Fort Bay families looking to downsize, and want the reduced maintenance of a condo, but still want to be out west; they don’t want to be in Cable Beach”.
No name or design has been agreed for the Fairview acquisition, Mr Marco said, adding: “Right now we’re land banking it. It’s something that was bought, but the value is only increasing because GoldWynn has done such an amazing job with their project.”
As for Balmoral, he explained that the Government’s unveiling of its proposed $290m new hospital at Perpall Tract had acted as “the catalyst” to place the remaining 14 lots at the Sanford Drive gated community on the market. The lots, 11 single family and three multi-family, are carrying gross price points between $223,371 and $392,790.
“We held it for a while,” Mr Marco said of the 43-acre community’s final lot inventory. “There was so much demand when we started 15 years ago. There’s going to be a catalyst. The catalyst is the new hospital. We know that when that goes under construction we will see massive interest in Balmoral.
“We held tight, and now we’re going to market them. That [the hospital] was a big catalyst. If you have speculators out there looking for investment property there’s nothing better than having senior doctors working at a hospital and looking for a nice place nearby to rent. There’s no better community than Balmoral.”
Asked about the market’s response to the marketing launch for the 14 lots, Mr Marco replied: “I’ve never received more responses to an email blast in my 20-year history in real estate. I certainly wasn’t expecting it. I knew I’d get interest but I wasn’t expecting it. We’re even considering building spec homes and renting them out. The inventory is non-existent and people want it.”
He argued that Balmoral compared favourably to similarly priced communities such as Sandyport and Charlotteville, and efforts to dispose of the remaining 14 lots will benefit from their location in an established gated community that has an existing homeowners association, amenities and is located close to developments such as Baha Mar, GoldWynn and Cable Beach.
Besides residential real estate, Mr Marco said he and Mr Kinsale have also ventured into the commercial market. “Jason and myself, we bought two years ago a 100 year-old home on the corner of Prospect Ridge and Sanford Drive,” he added.
“It’s now the Skyline Corporate Centre and we’re getting a lot of interest in that. We launched it for rentals just recently and have been showing it a lot. We’ve been showing it to law firms, banks and for government offices. A couple of ministries have looked at it. There’s a shortage on the island of brand new office space.”
Revealing that Skyline Corporate Centre represents a $10m investment, Mr Marco said it features four buildings and 15,000 square feet with a rental price of $75 per square foot. Prospective tenants have looked at the possibility of renting all four.
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