Sagicor presses ahead with retirement village

Insurance giant Sagicor Financial Corporation has just about doubled the size of its multi-million dollar senior citizens retirement community project in St George.

The Estates at St George, the first resort-style residential community in the Eastern Caribbean, which was initially to sit on between 13 and 19 acres, will instead be built on 32.5 acres, and cost some $206.2 million instead of the initial estimate of just over $170 million.

Edward Clarke, Director of Strategic Projects at Sagicor Life Inc., gave the update on Wednesday during a ceremony and site tour of the sprawling Boarded Hall Plantation Yard, St George project, where substantial work has already been done since commencement in September.

Clarke said the fact that officials have decided to go ahead with the project, it was a clear indication of the confidence in the Barbados economy.

“This is a clear sign of confidence by Sagicor in the recovery of the Barbadian economy,” he said.

“The Estates at St George now sits on just over 32 acres, overlooking the beautiful St George valley and represents an investment of $206 million,” he said.

This investment will include 10 residential buildings, an assisted living and skilled nursing building, a clubhouse, commercial centre and back of house administrative support complex.

When it was launched in the first quarter of last year some work immediately followed and it was projected to welcome its first guests by 2021. However, Clarke reported on Wednesday that the elderly residential community, which will be built in four phases, is now expected to be completed by December 2024.

It is hoped that by the end of the first phase, the community will have four residential buildings with some 88 condominium-styled residences, a community centre, clubhouse and almost 15 acres of dedicated green space for recreation, the assisted living building, skilled nursing care and member care services and residential care suites for rent.

Clarke said at the height of the project, some 350 people will be employed.

Thanking everyone who made the project possible, Clarke disclosed that the contractors were Jada Builders Inc and Shelbury Construction.

Through a memorandum of understanding with the Barbados Community College, a cohort of auxiliary nurses is now in a Sagicor-sponsored enhanced programme at that learning institution in preparation for the delivery of the senior care service.

Promising a “best-in-class, resort-environment”, Clarke said the aim was to raise the standard of caregiving in Barbados.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mia Mottley said the fact that the Sagicor was going ahead with the project despite suffering a significant loss as a result of Government’s debt restructuring over a year ago and having now to respond to the negative effects of the current health pandemic, was definitely a sign of confidence in the Government and people of Barbados.

“You could be forgiven for pressing pause or stop. The truth is, however, you have done exactly what needs to be done in this period, which is to hunker down and start the building, recognizing that this down period globally must eventually go somewhere,” said Mottley.

Hinting that another major private sector project from a different investor should be announced on Thursday, Mottley said this gave her “quiet satisfaction” of the confidence being expressed in the country as it continues to “press ahead” economically and maintain a politically stable environment.

The Prime Minister used the occasion to issue a call to other private sector firms to make similar investments, stating that Government would continue to play its role to ensure that the welfare of the country and its people was secured.

“I want to encourage other members of the private sector to participate in similar activities . . . I want to say, those who want to do like what Sagicor has done here and what we have done at the senior citizens village at Vauxhall or what the Soroptimists has done in Eden Lodge, we will be prepared to put similar packages of concessions, because there has to be a public-private approach to being able to resolve these matters,” said Mottley.

Officials did not give an update on the planned construction of a high-end cardiology medical facility, which Barbados TODAY understands is still in the planning stages.

It was reported last year that this medical complex, to be built a stone’s throw away and offer a range of specialised care, would be built once the Estates at St George was completed, and it would cost in excess of $200 million.

marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb