Kerr-Jarrett: Big Barnett Tech Park risk paying off
MARK KERR-JARRETT, the managing director of Barnett Limited, would have been relieved when his company landed the first client for their Barnett Tech Park development.
This was seven months into construction of their first building and, while his confidence in Jamaica remained high, to invest millions in a project with no real guarantees was a big risk.
“Although I wanted to do it, I was a little gun-shy, because my appetite for risk was seriously curbed during the 1990s with the whole mismanagement of the economy, the exchange rate and the 70 per cent interest rates and the 120 per cent penalties,” KerrJarrett told BPO Jamaica. “My appetite for risk was very limited, but with the tremendous encouragement of Paula (his wife) and Dr Christopher Tufton, who was a director at the time, we took the plunge.”
He added: “We did not have a client, but we decided that if it was pertinent to Jamaica’s growth, we would just roll the dice and take the risk.”
He continued: “It wasn’t until about seven months into the construction that something became tangible, but credit must again go to Paula and Chris for beating the pavement to get our first client. Now I can say that it has worked and taken traction and our tenants, from all reports, are very happy.”
The 48-acre tech park has a potential for 800,000 square feet of IT space and is currently occupied by Advance Call Centre Technologies (ACCT) and Conduent (formerly Xerox), with further development slated for completion in 2019.
Cimpress Jamaica Limited, (formerly Vistaprint) also occupies the campus-style facility, with its impressive state-of-the-art, 92,000-square-foot building.
For Barnett Limited, the tech park is just one phase of a multibillion-dollar development, which includes the construction of 1,300 homes by Gore Developments Ltd, and a new University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona – Western Jamaica Campus, capable of accommodating 8,000 to 10,000 students, a combined investment value of US$500 million.
FURTHER DEVELOPMENT
The plan also includes developing 200,000 square feet of commercial support services, which will include recreational area, medical, canteens, fitness, and a 24-hour infant- and toddlercare centre, for which UWI was gifted a 65 per cent discount on the land deal, plus an offer of five years to pay.
But plans for the development, announced in 2014, for a US$170-million investment in the campus with a proposal for financing and construction by Chinese firm COMPLANT, have seemingly hit a snag.
“We are several years behind the timeline, so I will be meeting with the new principal of UWI, Mona, to see where we are,” an obviously disappointed Kerr-Jarrett said.
“When we developed the Montego Bay South Master Plan in 1994, IT and BPO was a major consideration back then,” KerrJarrett explained.
“We saw the tremendous opportunity that it would create for human development, employment, economic growth and the diversity of employment opportunities in Montego Bay.”