Developers behind a major housing project in southwestern New Providence plan to be more "proactive" in their sales push given continued slow sales.
Despite breaking ground on Lyford Hills in 2009, Tennyson Wells admitted the development has experienced a number of challenges, one of which has been not tying in to the Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) right away. But since that process was completed two weeks ago, Wells did confirm the developers have noticed "more activity".
"We have done quite a bit of landscaping, including the entrance. BEC has tied in the electricity. That was something that should have been done from last September. Now we are in the process of completing the paving in phase one. So certainly by the end of March, phase one would have been completed," he revealed to Guardian Business.
"I think one of the mistakes that I have made with the development is the fact that I did not tie into BEC originally. But at the time, the reason I did that was because nobody was living there and the cost to tie in is hundreds of thousands of dollars. And that reportedly turned some people off.
"Vacant lots are not selling because there are a lot of distressed properties out on the market that banks are trying to get rid of at fire sale prices. Unfortunately, there have been cases where our clients have gone to the bank to get qualified and never come back because you suddenly discover that they bought something else. Even the real estate agents that we are in constant contact with have been complaining about it."
Now, there are plans to build high-end townhouses and offer more single-family lots by mid-2014 in Lyford Hills, as well as the developers' South Seas development.
"There is some building going on as well. So this year, we will be more proactive in Lyford Hills and South Seas. Since hosting a very successful open house back in November, we've made a couple of sales since then," Wells said.
In the past, several realtors have expressed to Guardian Business the difficulty they have noticed with Bahamians accessing financing for homes.
Currently, the development of the project's first phase is very close to completion, with only a small amount of road paving left to complete.
Another open house is scheduled for Lyford Hills on March 1.

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