BUSINESS MONDAY: Private sector has a role to play in revitalising Bridgetown

A CALL has been made for Government to make underutilised public property available for private sector development, especially in this island’s capital of Bridgetown.

The call came recently from Cherita O’dell, Real Estate Broker at Million Dollar Homes and Barbados Real Estate 246. She was at the time speaking as one of the panelists during a lunchtime webinar held by the Barbados Town Planning Society (BTPS) on the topic, “Can Housing Development Help Revitalise Bridgetown?”. The virtual event was just one in the BTPS’ “Revitalising Bridgetown” series of webinars.

“Let’s be honest. We know that Government owns real estate that sometimes is either vacant, abandoned or obsolete. But rather than hanging on to these properties until Jesus turns wine back into water, we know that refurbishment can be an expensive undertaking, so why not make these structures prime candidates for redevelopment by the private sector, who can access multiple sources of funds perhaps a bit more easily than having to go through all the red tape that we  know is there?” O’dell suggested.

“Take the money and inject it into some programmes that will have a higher return on value for the community and let the private sector transform the cityscape. We cannot put the burden all the time on poor government. We have to look outside them,” she stressed, noting that private sector partners can often take any piece of infrastructure, transform it and bring it to life.

“So let’s reactivate underutilised public property,” the real estate broker maintained.

Pointing out the “mass exodus” of businesses from Bridgetown, inclusive of a number of government offices which have also relocated to other business hubs across the island, O’dell however suggested that notwithstanding this fact, more can be done by Government to attract more corporate visitors to the City.

“There is something powerful about a country when there appears to be a synergy among its government organisations. I am not negating the use of satellite offices outside the City centre. We know they’ve gone to Warrens, the South Coast, etc., but what I am saying is that our government core being in the City centre, what does it do? It attracts increased employees, it increases the demand for more restaurants and services and folks, it just looks plain old busy. It keeps the City centre buzzing as the focal point in our country’s business activities. Imagine the added value of even a small convention centre in the heart of Bridgetown,” O’dell said.

She added, “Guess what? Somebody might be now able to take on the building that’s sitting there and transform it into a boutique corporate hotel. So imagine in the heart of the City, you now have the corporate visitor and they are going to love it because it is conveniently located close to a variety of amenities, they get to their meetings and so forth.”

“So we may not be able to keep the rest of corporate Barbados in Bridgetown, but if there is one entity that can dictate favourable rent and concessions for their own, it is the Government,” O’dell maintained. (RSM)