Patricia Green | Lessons from luxury developments

As the nation entered hurricane season on June 1, three development issues dominated the public media, raising hybrid yet related concerns, leaving citizens baffled, even confused. Some are saying - so what; others - here we go again; even more – Where do we stand as citizens?

One is Hambani Estate luxury development at 1-3 Bamboo Avenue, Kingston, where Sagicor Bank Jamaica has placed the lands under mortgages owned by First Rock Real Estate Investments in receivership on June 4. Two is a webinar focusing on affordable housing, “Housing with Purpose: Legal Integrity, Innovation and Inclusive Development,” hosted by the Jamaica Developers Association (JDA) on June 19. Three is the 17 Birdsucker Drive, Kingston 6, development where residents and owners of properties near the development had initiated judicial review proceedings in the Supreme Court.

Reflecting on these brings memories of how often children repeat nursery rhymes without understanding their meaning or significance. Remember, “…Three blind mice, … See how they run, …They all ran after the farmer’s wife, Who cut off their tails with a carving knife, Did you ever see such a thing in your life as three blind mice …”? First printed in 1609 while Jamaica was still a Spanish colony, this rhyme contains an even more gruesome line. The ‘farmer’s wife’ referred to Queen Mary I of England. Born 1516, she was the daughter of Henry VIII, King of England, and Catherine of Aragon, princess of the Catholic monarchs, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabela of Spain, who sanctioned the voyages of Christopher Columbus to the Caribbean. Columbus eventually became Duke of Jamaica, still remaining today in his family.

Much like those nursery rhymes that appear simple on the surface, events have origins that relate to issues swirling beneath public headlines, hinting at underlying complexities that some may see. The tales recited by children, full of repetition and rhythm, masked histories of upheaval, power struggles, even social unrest. Imagine the trauma Mary faced after her father, Henry, divorced her mother, Catherine, to take another wife. Henry had annulled his marriage to her mother, claiming the union incestuous because Catherine had been his deceased brother’s former wife, resulting in Mary being disinherited. The pope refused to recognise Henry’s right to divorce Catherine even after the divorce was legalised in England. Henry then divorced England from the Roman Catholic Church and established the protestant “Church of England”, making himself its head. Many English noblemen immediately gained new wealth and lands when Henry VIII confiscated the Catholic monasteries and other such properties.

Hambani commenced in 2021, and at the time of the receivership, only one unit was reported as sold in this residential development consisting of seven five-bedroom and five four-bedroom ‘standalone’ villas with swimming pool. At the JDA affordable housing webinar, some key issues arose. Should affordable housing continue to be built on greenfield sites outside of Kingston, resulting in long highway work commutes while Kingston’s urban areas need redevelopment? How may such affordable housing redevelopments avoid gentrification in Kingston neighbourhoods? How do we prevent dislocating existing Kingston urban residents to replace them with others of a higher and/or different social strata? Birdsucker development, granted approval in 2017 to erect a three-storey building with 12 one-bedroom units, received the Supreme Court ruling that the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAMC) acted outside its legal powers by granting planning and building approvals before the environmental permit was issued to the developer.

Henry VIII married two other women and had a child with each, Elizabeth, then Edward. When Henry died, Edward became king at age 10, and when he died at age 16, Mary become Queen of England then Elizabeth succeeded Mary. Queen Mary was England’s first Queen Regnant, meaning that she became a queen reigning in her own right rather than through marriage to a king. She married Phillip II [Filipe II] of Spain in 1554, and together, their title was King and Queen of England, Spain, France, Jerusalem, Naples, Sicily, and Ireland. Queen Mary reigned over England for five years until her death in 1558.

Mary immediately began a campaign to restore Roman Catholicism in England, and in the process, made several enemies. Many of the nobles were reluctant to return their newly acquired wealth and properties to the Roman Catholic Church. A protestant insurrection erupted, filled with relentless executions, leaving Mary during her short reign as queen with the nickname “Bloody Mary” and the tagline of the ‘farmer’s wife’ in the ‘three blind mice’ nursery rhyme.

Hambani development, designed to appeal to the ultra-wealthy, reports the news, is about 90 per cent complete, with a waitlist for three unsold units, and anticipates completion within three months once refinancing is secured. At the JDA affordable housing webinar, the National Housing Trust shared about having programmes to partner with developers and landowners to build housing units in the capital city but was experiencing challenges to identify suitable lands even as various recommendations were being made about land in the city. Birdsucker was in the news over various breaches of applicable laws by the planning and environmental authorities. In The Gleaner, June 26, “Residents urge quick enforcement after Birdsucker Drive ruling”. There is the expectation that the KSAMC will now move swiftly and decisively to administer the building laws to demolish units and internal walls that were built in violation of the permits.

Of further historical note, under the reign of Filipe II, who had ascended the Spanish throne in 1556 and outlived Queen Mary, the Spanish empire attained its greatest power, extent, and influence. He also assembled the Spanish armada that fought many European territorial battles on the Caribbean Sea. In 1573, Filipe established the “Laws of the Indies”, comprising 148 settlement ordinances for colonists. My work (Green 2024), “Decolonisation of Historic Caribbean Urbanism: Revisiting Architecture and Cultural Landscape Sustainable Dilemma”, shows that these ordinances are based on patterns of Caribbean Indigenous cities, villages, and cultural landscape that served as Spanish templates and confirmed Renaissance treatise, resulting in global urban developments. I demonstrate that Spanish Town in Jamaica was laid out by the Indigenous Tainos long before Filipe II established Ordinances.

On the surface, narratives of luxury developments, affordable housing and development judicial rulings reflect much deeper stories of rights, regulations, and societal well-being with historic underpinnings. At the United Nations 4th International Conference on Financing for Development, on June 30, over 70 world leaders in Seville, Spain, unanimously adopted the Seville Commitment to close the growing gap between rich and poor nations. It was French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr who penned in 1849, ‘the more things change, the more they remain the same.’

Patricia Green, PhD, a registered architect and conservationist, is an independent scholar and advocate for the built and natural environment. Send feedback to patgreen2008@gmail.com and columns@gleanerjm.com.