Jamaican investor, Michael Lee-Chin, has put his mansion on Grand Cayman’s Seven-Mile Beach up for sale for an asking price of US$35 million, regional business sources told Sunday Business.
Called Coconut Walk Private Estate, the two-storey, beachfront mansion is 8,400 square feet, with seven bedrooms, 6.5 bathrooms, a den, and a pool. The land on which the mansion is located is nearly 75,000 square feet.
The sale is being handled by Kim Lund, the broker/owner of The Lund Team, which is the franchisee of RE/MAX, the US international real estate company.
Lund was the broker for the property when Lee-Chin acquired it five years ago for US$12.5 million, according to a report in the news magazine Caribbean Journal. The publication said, at the time, that the purchase of the single-family home on Grand Cayman’s Seve- Mile Beach broke the record for the highest sales price in the Cayman Islands.
On its website, the Cayman Islands Real Estate Brokers Association says of the Lee-Chin property: “This gated compound is completely private and encompasses a spectacular two-storey beachfront home with seaside pool and gazebo, three car garage, two separate one-bedroom residences for staff quarters, and a private three-bedroom guest house.
“The grounds are lushly landscaped with mature trees and plants in a tropical, garden-like setting. Space and privacy are abundant on the property and a substantial depth of 525 feet from the sea.
“The rooms within the main residence feature large windows and focus on views of the perfect beachfront, Caribbean Sea, and sunsets every night.”
Lee Chin built up significant assets in the last decade, using his majority shareholding in Jamaica’s NCB Financial Group (NCBFG) to acquire a 29.9 per cent stake in T&T’s Guardian Holdings Ltd (GHL) in November 2015. NCBFG increased its shareholding in GHL to over 67 per cent in May 2019.
Entities controlled by Lee-Chin acquired a 68 per cent stake in Clarien Bank of Bermuda in 2019.
The proposed sale of Lee-Chin’s Grand Cayman beachfront mansion continues his offloading of assets, which started in ernest last year...
The Jamaica Observer reported on February 15, 2023, that Lee-Chin was selling his 377.6-foot Ahpo superyacht for US$355 million. He acquired the vessel in December 2021 for US$300 million.
The Jamaica Observer identified the following asset sales by entities connected to Lee-Chin:
• The sale of Reggae Beach, St Mary, to MJR Real Estate Holdings Ltd, which is controlled by Barita Investments. That 250-acre property was reportedly valued at US$50 million;
• CVM Television in September 2022 to Verticast Media Group at an undisclosed price.
Last month, NCB Global Holdings, the Trinidad-based subsidiary of NCBFG, was in the local market looking to raise to US$30 million in senior, secured dual-tranche, fixed-rate notes.
Tranche 1 is a one-year note offering an interest rate of seven per cent. Tranche 2 is a two-year note offering an interest rate of 7.75 per cent. The notes are secured by TT-dollar securities in the name of GHL.
In January, another NCBFG subsidiary, NCB Capital Markets (Barbados) was in the market looking to raise US$25 million in cumulative, redeemable preference shares with a fixed nine per cent per annum interest rate, maturing in five years and three months.