The Boundbrook Urban Centre in Portland, which is currently being developed, will set the standard for similar developments in the parish, says Chairman of the Factories Corporation of Jamaica (FCJ), Lyttleton Shirley.

Mr. Shirley made the comment while speaking to JIS News during a tour of the facility on April 14.

“What is important about the Boundbrook Urban Centre is that it is the first major development to be taking place in Port Antonio for many years. What it represents is an understanding of the benchmark that will be set in Port Antonio that we don’t create a concrete jungle, but we build buildings that are conducive to this environment…and we set the stage for other developers to follow suit,” the Chairman said.

He added that the centre forms part of Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness’ plan to redevelop the northeastern parish, with ground already broken for the Port Antonio Bypass Road.

The Boundbrook Urban Centre, being developed by the FCJ, is the second of its kind to be built in Jamaica. Similar to the Morant Bay Urban Centre, the campus at Boundbrook will fuse public and private sector entities in one space, offering residents and visitors to the parish a one stop shop.

Mr. Shirley revealed that the project is now 51 per cent developed, on a construction timeline of 18 months.

In addition, given the impact of Hurricane Melissa in 2025 and Jamaica on a mission to rebuild better, the Chairman noted that at the Boundbrook Urban Centre, there will be re-engineered roofing to be able to withstand up to a category five hurricane.

Also, Portland’s propensity for rainfall often has not made it easy for the contractors of the project who have had to use “modern engineering skills” to deal with areas of the land that were semi-swamped, the Chairman said.

Smaller than the Morant Bay Urban Centre, the Boundbrook Urban Centre will occupy 148,000 square feet of space and approximately nine acres of land.

“What we have done with this is…the same concept but condense it in respect to our land space. Most of our buildings, unlike Morant Bay…are two floors. Some are three floors. So, where you have smaller land space, we use airspace to compensate,” the Chairman pointed out.

The property will feature entities such as the Portland Municipal Corporation, the Tax Administration of Jamaica, other Government agencies, as well as fast food and fine dining restaurants.

Mr. Shirley believes the latter will help to retain more tourism dollar in the parish.

“It’s amazing to know the number of persons who travel from all over the country, come to Portland to visit the seaside, the beach, and then they pack up and head back to their destination,” he said.

The Boundbrook Urban Centre, according to the Chairman, will be the encouragement that is needed “to have persons come here, retain here, enjoy, spend money, build the communities, build prosperity, build economic resilience, and give everybody a chance to have a good quality of life.”