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Thursday, March 27, 2008 ~ Jamaica Observer
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THE St. Mary tourism landscape became richer on Easter Monday with the opening of Tranquility Cove, a condominium consisting of 26 two-bedroom luxury suites. Errol Duncan, who along with his wife Tracey runs Alcovia Development Limited, the company that built Tranquility Cove, said the project took two years to complete and cost about US$10 million.
This is the second project for Duncan, who returned to Jamaica in the 1990s after living in Canada for several years. "I returned to Jamaica from Vancouver, Canada in 1993 and sat around because I was retired. I started a project four years ago in Balmorral - six luxury apartments, and a lot of my customers wanted more and so I started the development here in Alcovia, Tower Isle," he explained.
Later this year he will add four more luxury units on the property after which he will focus on another development, for which negotiations for land is now taking place. Most of the units are owned by returning residents, with the units also being available for short-terms rentals for the tourism industry.
Guest speaker at the official opening ceremony, Jamaica Trade and Invest (JTI) president, Robert Gregory, said the project was a 100 per cent owned Jamaican venture and defied the notion that there was not enough opportunities for local investments.
The JTI, Gregory said, made no distinction between local and foreign investors. He encouraged Jamaicans to follow the example set by Alcovia Development and invest in Jamaica.
Duncan acknowledged the "very influential" role played by the JTI in the development of Tranquility Cove. He also listed the Jamaica Tourist Board as being supportive of the project. National Commercial Bank and Jamaica National Building Society were the financial institutions associated with the project, which was officially opened by former minister, Delano Franklyn, who provided legal service for the project.
