Jamaica
News - Real Estate - Sales (April 28, 2004)
Hendricksons buy Island Life building
The Karl Hendrickson family has
concluded negotiations for the acquisition of the Island Life Shopping Centre in
New Kingston, one of the city's last remaining major real estate assets being
held by Joslin Jamaica Ltd.
It is not clear what price the Hendricksons,
who have emerged in the past few years among Jamaica's most acquisitive and
dynamic entrepreneurs, paid for the 135,000 square-foot landmark building.
Joslin Jamaica has been asking US$8 million.
Our sources say that Joslin Jamaica has called a
meeting with the maintenance staff stationed at the complex for early next week,
to discuss matters relating to the sale, and that some of the retail tenants at
the complex have been served with notice to vacate.
The complex, located at 6 St Lucia Avenue, has
numerous offices and retail outlets. It also houses a branch of RBTT Bank, and
Palace Amusement's Island Cineplex - a single-screen cinema.
This factor, according to real estate experts,
has been a concern to those potential purchasers who have in the past expressed
interest in the asset.
The Island Life complex was conceived and
built by Oliver Jones, the former CEO and major shareholder of Island Life
Insurance Company, prior to the financial sector meltdown of the mid-1990s.
But the millions of dollars spent on the building
later became a drag on the bottom line of the company, which like other
insurance firms faced a liquidity crisis during the mid-1990s.
That crisis was precipitated by major shifts
in government policies and the over-investment of several firms in real estate.
The building was taken over by the government,
which took majority control in the company in exchange for a major cash
infusion. Eventually the government sold its insurance portfolio to Life of
Barbados.
Island Life was later merged with Life of
Jamaica, but the building remained in the possession of the state which
negotiated with Joslin Jamaica to have it sold on the government's behalf.
The Hendricksons - whose family member, Kevin
Hendrickson was in 2001 nominated as a Business Observer Business Leader for his
development and management of the family's Courtleigh Hotel, and Yummy Bakery -
are Jamaica's third largest players in the hotel industry.
Their ownership of National Bakery, Holsum
Bakery, and Yummy Bakery make them among Jamaica's most important players in
that industry. The family also owns Caribbean Broilers, the island's second
largest processors of chicken meat - after Jamaica Broilers. They own the Blue
Mountain Inn restaurant in St Andrew and The Ruins in Ocho Rios.
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