Eight years after the owner of the upscale Royal Westmoreland purchased the neighbouring Lancaster Estate, it is finally on the verge of being transformed into a new residential and golf project.
The first of what is likely to be 200 lots at the St James site near the Ronald Mapp Highway has already been sold and its construction is likely to start “sometime before Christmas”.
BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY was also informed that the first kilometre of what will eventually be three kilometres of new road was scheduled to be completed by the middle of next month. Water, electricity and telecommunication infrastructure is also being installed.
Royal Westmoreland construction director Ian Putley said that with the new resort likely to have 200 lots of housing and a nine-hole golf course, Barbados would benefit from about “a $200 million inflow” as the estate was “built out”.
He said the first one kilometre road would “open up the first parcel of 31 lots at the Lancaster Estate”.
“If you are looking at 200 lots you could argue that each of those lots is worth somewhere in the region of $1 million on average. In its entire term, arguably it’s a $200 million inflow of purchase power to the island. There will be some expenditure, of course, on the golf course, on the infrastructure,” he said.
“Royal Westmoreland has existing lands for an additional 75 properties and we are looking at a ten-year business model for the build -ut of these remaining lots. At Lancaster, we are looking at 20 years. So it’s really extending the life of the built development that is Royal Westmoreland from ten years to 20 years.
“We have sold our first lot there and the plan is certainly to have the first one kilometre of road and services complete by the middle of June so that we are ready for the summer selling season, so that we can market that parcel of land properly. No doubt it’s the next growth area, it’s the next piece of prime property to develop,” he added.
Putley said the first Lancaster house “is being designed at the moment, a house in the region of 10 000 square feet, so it’s a substantial property”.
