Organisers of a diaspora investment conference say groups of overseas Jamaicans have pooled money to buy Negril hotels and turn them into condominiums.
NEGRIL, Jamaica: Groups of overseas Jamaicans who met at an investment conference have bought hotels in Negril and converted most of them into private condominiums, according to the event’s organisers.
The Throp X Investment Conference says it has generated more than US$150 million in real estate deal flow since it began in 2022, the Gleaner reported on November 3, citing a media release. The figure comes from the organisers and has not been independently verified.
Over its first five stagings, the organisers say, the conference has supported the acquisition and sale of seven hotels in Negril, five of which have since been converted into private condominium developments.
From hotel rooms to condo units
One example cited is The West in Negril, formerly the Coral Seas Cliffs hotel, which the Gleaner reported was bought by a group of investors who first met at the event in 2023 and has since been converted into condominiums.
The Jamaica Observer reported in June that about 30 attendees, most of whom had not known one another before, pooled their money in 2023 to acquire the Coral Seas hotel for US$3 million. The deal closed a few months after the conference, after which the investors began renovating and converting the property.
The organisers also say the conference has helped more than 100 people relocate to Jamaica, facilitated more than 200 local bank account openings and assisted with more than 100 Taxpayer Registration Number (TRN) registrations in partnership with Tax Administration Jamaica, according to the Gleaner.
Montego Bay next
The sixth staging is set for November 15 to 21 in Negril, the Gleaner reported. Organisers say this year’s programme will add a focus on Montego Bay, including a real estate tour of the city, and will look at modular and prefabricated housing. Participants travel mainly from the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.
What the model could mean for the West End
Turning older hotels into condominiums may change the make up of Negril’s accommodation. Units that once sold as hotel nights become individually owned apartments, some of which may be rented out by their owners. That could bring fresh money into ageing buildings, but it may also spread ownership of a single property across dozens of people living in different countries.
Pooling money with strangers to buy a large building carries real risks. Buyers in a group purchase are likely to need clear answers on several points before money changes hands.
Title: who will hold the title at closing, and when will individual strata titles be issued for each unit.
Structure: whether the group is buying through a company, a partnership or a strata arrangement, and what happens if one investor wants out or stops paying.
Approvals: whether the conversion from hotel to residential use has the planning and building approvals it needs from the local municipal corporation.
Running costs: how maintenance, insurance and repairs will be shared, an issue that may weigh more heavily in a hurricane prone coastal area after Melissa.
Overseas buyers may also want their own attorney in Jamaica, separate from the seller’s or the organiser’s, to review the documents.
Why it matters for property
The Observer reported in June that there is no official measure of how much diaspora investment reaches the island or which sectors attract the most, although institutions working with overseas Jamaicans say property attracts the greatest share of interest.
The Negril conversions offer one picture of how that money is moving: not only into family homes and land, but into group deals on commercial buildings. If the model spreads to Montego Bay, as the organisers intend, the questions about titles, approvals and shared costs are likely to grow with it.
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