RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

More than 100 peo­ple in­ter­est­ed in get­ting an apart­ment from the Hous­ing De­vel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion (HDC) got the chance to take a per­son­al tour of the new­ly re­fur­bished Carl­ton Place in San Fer­nan­do yes­ter­day.

For­mer­ly known as Carl­ton Lane, the area was once stig­ma­tised for high crime.

But af­ter spend­ing $62 mil­lion, the HDC opened its doors to walk-in cus­tomers, of­fer­ing three-bed­room units and two-bed­room units for sale. HDC ap­pli­cants with ap­point­ments were al­so al­lowed to view the apart­ments which had an open-plan liv­ing, din­ing and kitchen area, a liv­ing room win­dow faux bal­cony and an­cil­lary ar­eas for garbage col­lec­tion and wa­ter tank fa­cil­i­ties.

The two-bed­room units were of­fered at a cost of over $800,000 while the three-bed­room units are be­ing sold for al­most $1 mil­lion.

San Fer­nan­do May­or Ju­nia Re­grel­lo who met with the HDC said the five-storey build­ings at Carl­ton Place will re­vi­talise eco­nom­ic ac­tiv­i­ties in the city.

"I think it's af­ford­able when you think about what is hap­pen­ing around the world to­day. It is af­ford­able, and this in­vest­ment is com­mend­able be­cause it will bring en­er­gy and will boost the in­ner-city ac­tiv­i­ties and op­por­tu­ni­ties to boost the econ­o­my," Re­grel­lo said.

Asked about crime in that area, Re­grel­lo added, "Lo­cal gov­ern­ment now has 100 of­fi­cers avail­able as op­posed to 23 when I came in. And we now have more in train­ing who will im­prove se­cu­ri­ty. Al­so, the po­lice will pro­vide a stronger mea­sure of safe­ty for our cit­i­zens."

Michelle Vial­va Gan­path who came for a tour with her fam­i­ly said she was com­fort­able with the lo­ca­tion of the apart­ments and their close­ness to the ameni­ties of the city.

In re­sponse to the stig­ma, Gan­path said, "I think times have changed and things have changed. We do not get se­ri­ous crimes in the area. I feel com­fort­able."

The HDC said the three apart­ment build­ings which com­prise 60 apart­ment units as well as its as­so­ci­at­ed in­fra­struc­ture and ameni­ties are part of the re­vi­tal­i­sa­tion of San Fer­nan­do.