Frith turns to real estate development
KEVIN FRITH has spent seven years marketing and distributing liquor and drinks for some of Jamaica’s largest corporations, but now wants to take a shot at real estate development.
The former CEO of Bar Central has spent the past year putting together a team of subcontractors for Ideas Execution, a construction and renovation business in which he has 50 per cent ownership.
Frith resigned his post at Bar Central in February, but retains 25 per cent ownership of the company he founded, and continues to sit on its board. He told the Financial Gleaner that he was ready for a change from “working the bars at nights”, but also noted that he had “limited options” in affecting the decisions made by the company that now has majority shareholding in the business. SSL Venture Capital Jamaica, a listed company, bought Bar Central in 2018.
It’s part of the reason he’s now looking to build out businesses that allows him equal shareholding, he said.
The other 50 per cent of Ideas Executions belongs to longtime business partner and friend Patricia Powell. Frith, along with two business partners, also has equal shareholding in real estate company TCF Holdings. Through TCF, the partners are hunting land to acquire, and then to develop or renovate properties through Ideas Execution. The latter company has been providing residential renovation services since July 2017.
But for now, the focus is on construction, which is a new arena for Frith.
“Our first project will be the construction of 45 two-bedroom apartments in east Kingston,” he said.
The east Kingston housing development, which covers little over an acre of land, is being funded through TCF Holdings at an estimated cost of $351 million, including the price paid for the land. They plan to market the units at $13 million.
With the acquisition of land out the way, Frith is putting together a team of subcontractors from Ideas Execution to get the project off the ground. Building applications to the National Environment & Planning Agency are to be submitted this week and, assuming there are no hiccups in the approvals, construction of the units should get under way between December 2020 and January 2021.
“It’s a low-income community and the hope is to have it completed by March 2022, if we have no further delays from the coronavirus,” Frith said.
Meanwhile, he and his business partners are in discussion to acquire a 15-acre property in Bull Bay, St Thomas, for a second project that is under consideration.
“Given the highway that’s coming, we are in negotiations now for a seafront property in 12 Miles, Bull Bay,” he said.