TCF Development Limited brings first phase of homes to market

This month, TCF Development Limited reached another major milestone in its effort to bring a 91-acre mixed use development to Twelve Miles, St Thomas. The long-awaited, gated community, dubbed Sun-Coast Beach Club, has recently begun accepting applications to purchase residences in the project’s first phase. After some delays, related to permitting and the uncertainty of the pandemic, Phase 1 is now slated for completion in March 2023. It will include 30 two-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom duplexes, and 103 two-bedroom, two and a half bathroom townhomes.

Future phases are expected to bring a total of 396 units to market by December 2026. The starting price for homes in the development have climbed significantly, since discussions during earlier stages of the project – with duplexes now starting at 350,000 USD, and townhomes being offered at 470,000 USD. The costs from the entrepreneur’s standpoint are similarly steep. The acreage was, reportedly, purchased from the former owner of the Sun-Coast Hotel and Adventure Park, at a cost of 320 million JMD. Backed by First Regional Credit Union in St. Ann, the total construction costs of all phases of the redevelopment project are expected to exceed 15 billion JMD (approx. 99 million USD).

TCF’s owners, Kevin Frith, and Lancelot Thomas, are relative newcomers to the real estate industry, but have made no secret of their desire to shake up what they see as an uncompetitive and largely unimaginative sector of the economy. Frith originally made his mark on the local business community through his previous ownership of Bar Company Limited, which served the entertainment industry through the marketing of alcoholic beverages. Thomas previously served in CFO and AVP roles at Jamaica’s leading lotto company, Supreme Ventures Limited. Beyond its executive and in-house team, TCF has recently retained New-Kingston based law firm, Ramsey and Partners, as project counsel. However, the firm appears to have gone further afield in its choice of building contractor, selecting an unnamed Spanish firm that it described as having a significant presence in the local tourism industry. As TCF’s bulldozers prepare the land for construction, government compactors are rarely too far away.

The opening of Sun Coast Beach Club’s first phase is expected to coincide with the National Works Agency’s (NWA) slated completion of the first two phases of the Southern Coastal Highway Improvement Programme, in March 2023.

Shua McLean (@shuakym) is a Master of Public Affairs student at Princeton University, concentrating in International Development. He writes regularly on issues of public finance, budgeting, and public-sector reform.