Trinidad has its own gold coast. It is the shoreline from MovieTowne to Glencoe. The price of real estate along this seafront has just shot up even further with the planned December start of construction of the $88 million ?smart and luxurious condominium residences? known as Torres Del Sol at Paria Avenue, Shorelands.
By Sandra ChouthiThe full-page colour advertisement of the new development ran in the newspapers last month.
There were no prices attached to the four types of apartments: La Paria, El Chacao, and the two penthouses, El Capital and Cinco Estrallas.
The sales pitch for the rooms states that the rooms come with jacuzzi, walk-in closets, computer work station in each unit, Internet access, stereo/CD player and intercom with control in each room.
The units are perhaps the priciest on the market right now. The seven La Paria apartments start at $4.5 million and go up to $5.475.
In short, the units cost more the higher you go.
El Chacao are similarly priced. The starting price for one of these seven units is $4.6 million with the most expensive of the lot being $5.575 million.
The two penthouses have a tag of $9 million each.
Torres Del Sol, a development by JD Investments Ltd, of which Austin de Bourg, senior pastor at the Trinidad Christian Centre at the corner of Simeon and Morne Coco Roads, Petit Valley.
The Companies Registry at the Ministry of Legal Affairs listed JD Investments Ltd as operating at Suite 3b Coblentz House, Coblentz Gardens, St Ann?s.
The directors of JD Investments were last recorded as minister of religion Austin de Bourg; Nadine Ratiram, an attorney with NS Ratiram and Co at 122 Edward Street, Port-of-Spain; minister of religion Kelvin Siewdass, of Silver Oaks, Morne Coco Road, Petit Valley, and church administrator Althea Bastien-Romano, of Sampson Heights Villas, Morne Coco Road, Petit Valley.
De Bourg cancelled an appointment for an interview about the project.
The payment plan for the development, to be built by Beaver Construction, is ten per cent down to reserve a unit, 15 per cent on signing, another 15 per cent on completion of the foundation by May 2005, 35 per cent on completion of the roof in December, 2005 and a final 25 per cent at the handing over in April 2006.
The apartments, all of which will have a view of the ocean, will also look out to the T&T Yacht Club.
That properties are commanding larger and larger price tags is no longer shocking to the likes of Jeanine Tucker-Miller of Tucker Real Estate Ltd.
Tucker-Miller said the market for a three-bedroom apartment at the Guardian General-owned La Fontaine residential building near West Mall starts at $3 million. A ?corner unit? can fetch as much as $7 million.
Referring to Torres Del Sol?s $9 million penthouses, Tucker-Miller said, ?Executive apartments have continuously been appreciating but have not exceeded $7 million as yet.?
Asked who buys these properties, Tucker-Miller said the market consists mostly of locals, that foreign companies operating in Trinidad do not usually buy property for their senior staff.
?Locals buy these properties and put them on the market for rental,? Tucker-Miller said. ?They rent them until they are ready to retire. Foreigners do not come here and purchase property.?
Tucker-Miller said some developers are able to pre-sell their properties because they have a good reputation based on investments they were previously linked with.
Some properties are pre-sold purely based on people?s impression of the promotional brochure.
Afra Raymond, a property valuator and director at Raymond and Pierre, said the Torres Del Sol development is the most luxurious he?s seen on the market since the late architect Roger Turton?s Rainbow Villas in Goodwood Park.
Raymond said many Trinidadians were doing well importing and exporting or investing in the stock market. The property market, he said, was a viable means of investment.
?That?s where the appetite for property is coming from,? Raymond said.
He spoke of the particularly well-heeled, known in real estate jargon as ?flippers,? who buy a block of apartments or condos upfront, wait for it to be advertised and watch the rush take place, effectively driving up the price.
?A $1.5 million property goes up to $1.8 million. Effectively, I can double my money,? Raymond said. ?A slight investment can produce an inordinate profit if you are socially and financially in a position to flip. The problem occurs when the market slows down.?
Richard Saunders, managing director of Vel Real Estate and the project management company Vicar Enterprises, said properties may take a hit when the economy slows down, but not as badly as with the stock market ?where you may lose your shirt and pants.?
Saunders, who used to manage Guardian Properties Ltd, said the market needs up to 80 new high-end housing units annually. The price rise, he said, has been due to market forces at play?supply and demand.
Saunders said four years ago, land per square foot along the seafront in west Trinidad was $200, but this has risen to $500.
?The current bullish market will continue as long as the energy prices are sustained,? Saunders said.
High-end properties
Cascade
Braemar Heights
$2 million and up
Coblentz Villas, developed by the Gillette family
$1.8 million
Mews on Cascade Road, north of Coblentz Avenue
$1.6 million to $9 million range
Cascade River Gardens and Pomme Rose Gardens
Both going for between $1.5 million and $2.5 million
Maraval
Allamanda Court, Champs Elysees
Trading hands for between $1.8 million and $2.5 million
Fairways
St Andrew?s Court
$1.5 million and up
The Greens
$1.5 million and up
New development at Moka
Units at $2.5 million are sold out. Owners are selling at $2.8 million, a 16 per cent profit
Westmoorings
$1 million-plus
Goodwood Park
Nealco-built Rainbow Ridge, $2.5 million-plus
Carenage
The Buoys, Dhein?s Bay
$1.5 million minimum
Petit Valley
Vale View Villas
20 units, all sold, $2 million and up
