Cayman Enterprise City is coming to Savannah.
The developers of the special economic zone have acquired 45 acres in the Bodden Town district community and are aiming for a ground breaking in the first quarter of this year.
Cindy O’Hara, Cayman Enterprise City’s director of design and development, said developers are not revealing the exact location of the business campus just yet, but will do so once they have notified neighbours adjacent to the property and have fully explained to them what the plans for the zone are.
“We are right on the schedule we’ve been working on for the last year,” she said. “I am delighted that we have chosen Savannah as the location of Cayman Enterprise City, as I grew up in this community and it is very dear to my heart. I foresee CEC having immense benefits for the District of Bodden Town and the community and people of Savannah. It will present local entrepreneurs, shops, restaurants, landlords and small business owners with many new opportunities, not to mention the obvious property value increases for those with homes in the area.”
Planning process
Ms O’Hara said they are in the process of applying for planning permission right now, starting with notifying neighbours and meeting with planning officials. “We will be putting an application in hopefully this month. I say ‘hopefully’ because if they come back with changes, we’ll make changes, and those might take a little bit of time.”
Developers will be submitting a ‘planned area development’ application to the Central Planning Authority, along with an application for the first two buildings, she said.
According to the Development and Planning Law and its associated regulations, planned area developments are master planned developments of large tracts of land (40 acres or more) that provide for a mix of land uses, densities and open space.
Having approval for a planned area development allows developers greater flexibility to change the design and use of buildings as the zone grows, depending on demand.
The low-rise campus will be built in three phases of 150,000 square feet apiece, with construction on the first buildings beginning in June. Developers expect the first buildings to be complete within two years. If demand outpaces space availability, special economic zone companies have the option of leasing existing commercial space in George Town.
Design elements
Cayman Enterprise City’s design team is balancing aesthetics, strength and sustainability in their plans for the zone. “The design team has painstakingly made sure in each design decision that every element of the campus fits naturally into the Savannah community,” according to a news release.
In her role as managing director of Design Cayman, Ms O’Hara was the project architect for the new Government Administration Building.
Ms O’Hara said developers will not simply bulldoze the entire 45-acre site and pop up structures on it from time to time – rather, the area will gradually be cleared as buildings and infrastructure are created. According to the news release, “during the land clearing process as much of the local plant life as possible will be carefully transported to the Botanic Park and preserved for use in the design and beautification of the campus. The low rise design of the campus calls for several unique local materials and workmanship such as local cut-stone walls.”
Plans for the campus also include “an extensive amount” of energy efficiency initiatives, including solar power “to meet most of the site’s energy needs”.
“The entire project will be sensitive to the existing natural beauty of the Savannah area and because of the location of the land and its current infrastructure, no public funds will be required to facilitate the zones on-going development,” according to the news release.
Special economic zone
Cayman Enterprise City is a special economic zone enabled by Cayman Islands legislation passed last year. The law allows international businesses to operate within the zone, while not being permitted to trade in Cayman outside of the zone or compete with local businesses. The idea for a special economic zone in Cayman was inspired by similar concepts in places such as Dubai.
On 10 January, Cabinet approved an order naming Cayman Enterprise City as the developer of Cayman’s first special economic zone. The law establishes an overseeing Special Economic Zone Authority. Members of the authority come from the private and public sectors. The authority’s chairman is Chamber of Commerce President David Kirkaldy.
Cayman Enterprise City includes five components: Cayman Internet & Technology Park, Cayman Biotech Park, Cayman Media Park, Cayman Global Commodities & Derivatives Park and Cayman International Academic Park. There will be no manufacturing or industrial businesses within the zone.
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Oh boy…more destruction, more lost mangrove and/or rare cayman woodland. When will this stop? Why should this company alone benefit from a special zone. I just hope they design this better than the GOAP, traffic is always a mess there.
I thought they said they were building it in East End? What happened to the Go East initiative? This is a megaproject which should have been built further east — Savannah is already developed enough, they didn’t need a project of this magnitude. Would have been more beneficial to the island people who are further east, be it Bodden Town, or East End, or anywhere in between. High Rock might have been a perfect location — especially with the new Hospital going there. Once again, people of the EE get the short end of the strict. If the focus of the government is Go East then they should stand by their word. Savannah is NOT east!