Issa building $300m office complex at Hope Road
ISSA CONSTRUCTION, headed by realtor Andrew Issa, will be developing a $300-million commercial complex at Hope Road in Kingston, the former location of his realty firm.
The realtor says he plans to create an entity similar to a real estate investment trust for possible listing on the stock market in two years, with the Hope Road complex being one of the assets.
The mix-use complex, spanning 18,000 square feet, will have offices on the first two floors, while the third will be developed as space for entertaining.
The site is located on the corner of Hope Road and Hope Close near the trendy Chilitos restaurant, and Issa wants to take advantage of the popularity of the area by adding a mural on the wall to entice selfies. Within the walls, the space will include a courtyard, bridges, landscaped gardens and a fountain. The architects at Synergy Design Studios got increased space to play with, as most of the 75 parking lots are underground.
“We started construction about November 4 and expect to finish July 1st next year,” he said.
The Hope Road property is owned by Andrew Issa Realty Limited which trades as Coldwell Banker Jamaica Realty. Issa’s realty firm, Coldwell Banker, relocated from the site to Barbican Road at Sovereign Commercial Centre, beside the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship, to facilitate the property’s redevelopment.
Issa is finalising a lease with a company that will occupy the Hope Road premises once the project is complete. He identified the tenant only as a company whose activities are stable and “traditional”.
The realtor says he wants to develop a few more projects both for commercial and hospitality sectors, then create a holding company for these properties with the intention of a possible listing by 2021.
“We are creating a pool of properties with triple-A tenants. We want two or three more projects. The focus will be on creating a unique tourist destination, and once this becomes a reality, we will look at going public.”
Issa expects the real estate market to retain its current buoyancy, with the caveat that it requires a stable macroeconomy.
“Usually we have a seven-year run, and I hope we have five more years ahead of us,” he said. “As long as interest rates stay below 8 per cent, then real estate will continue to do extremely well. The only unfortunate thing is the dollar,” he said, the latter being a reference to the continuous periods of volatility in the foreign exchange market and the rate, which has seen a depreciation of the currency by nearly eight per cent year to date.