A view of the Liquidation Centre site.
The court case surrounding the Liquidation Centre is adjourned until August 24th.
The property on Bay Street, St. Michael, which was formerly owned by the Mirchandani family, was acquired by Government through the compulsory acquisition process of Parliament, with the notice to acquire having been served on the owners since March last year. This site forms part of the tourism footprint identified by the Mia Mottley Administration for a number of hotel developments, including the new Hyatt Ziva Centric.
Though government has owned the property for over a year now, the process of compensation to the former owners has not been completed. Government and the former owners have been at odds over the value and hence monies to be paid to complete the transaction. Issues were also raised related to existing stock which has been removed from the property and placed in storage by government.
Last month, demolition of the empty Bridgetown located building commenced. The next stage is expected to be enabling and foundation works over eight weeks, 150 persons will be employed before 500 persons will be working on the site for the following six months. When the construction gets into full swing a year from now, 2000 Barbadians will be gainfully employed by the project.