Pinnacle developers finalising financing, complex to be managed by international hotel brand
DEVELOPERS OF the US$350million luxury, residential highrise being built in Montego Bay will put the complex in the hands of a hotel management company to run.
The development, called The Pinnacle, is targeted at investors who, based on the prices revealed to date, are expected to pay ‘starting prices’ within the region of US$430,000 to US$961,260 to purchase units – and more for larger apartments and penthouses – from which they can expect to earn resort income. The quoted prices translate to around $67 million to $150 million in Jamaican currency. As for the larger units, the four-bedroom apartments, penthouses as well as the villas, the prices are quoted on request.
“We are working with a hotel management framework. We are in dialogue with a luxury brand,” said Tanya Golaub, chief operating officer of LCH Developments, the company behind the project.
The cost of developing The Pinnacle is shy of $55 billion at current rates of exchange. Golaub said the company was still in discussions around the financing for the development, without speaking to the specifics, but that the deal was soon to close.
Regardless, she noted that construction, which was officially launched on the weekend, was moving ahead.
The Pinnacle project will span 17 acres and comprise four towers, each rising to 28 storeys. It will deliver 447 units, 15 of which will be villas, by the end of construction, slated for 2028; and will incorporate a commercial centre.
“Three towers are residential,” said Golaub. “There will be a hotel component in tower four,” she added.
Golaub said LCH commissioned Global Branded Residences to do research on the design and positioning of the new development in Jamaica’s luxury market prior to execution.
“It showed us we are ready for luxury in Jamaica,” she said.
The Pinnacle “is an investment product; we will not be doing Airbnb,” she asserted. It will be available to international investors “who can realise income from their units”.
The development, located at Reading in Montego Bay, is priced for the luxury market, but not the “ultra luxury” segment, said Golaub.
The closest properties to the business model LCH intends to pursue, she added, are Soleil Residences at Montego Freeport; and ROK Kingston, which is managed for owner Pan Jamaica Group by international hotel company Hilton under the upscale Tapestry Collection by Hilton.
The Pinnacle’s residences will range in size up to five bedrooms. The cheapest price, US$430,000 ($67 million), relates to the onebedroom unit.
“These prices are set based on a market survey looking not only in Jamaica, but in the Caribbean. It is comparable to the wider Caribbean market,” said Golaub.
“Pricing goes up depending on the floor. The higher up, the views are different, and the pricing is different,” Golaub said.
LCH was created in 2019 and is sister company to Brother Concepts and Solutions, which has done housing construction for Kemtek in St Catherine and is currently engaged i n the construction of a new commercial centre, also in St Catherine.
LCH and Brother Concepts were also involved in the construction of Soleil and Harbour City, the latter being a commercial complex located at the intersection of Howard Cooke Highway and Market Street in Montego Bay.
LCH founder and CEO Yangsen Li owns one-fifth of the real estate development company, along with four partners, Shifu Huang, Ziping Chen, who is company chairman, Shijin Li and Xuedong Lin. Each of the five holds a one-fifth stake in LCH, Companies Office of Jamaica Records show.