Almost two years after its groundbreaking, plans for Seafarers Park in the heart of George Town, in honour of the islands’ mariners, are still on hold.
Groundbreaking at the site of the old Tower Building was held with much fanfare in February last year, but funding to complete the park has not been secured.
The Compass reached out to the Office of the Premier, which directed queries to George Town Manager Colin Lumsden, who heads the George Town Revitalisation Initiative, who replied, “The project is currently awaiting funding as the cabinet office is leading the charge in this regard.”
The Cabinet Office did not respond to Compass questions, sent a week ago, nor a follow-up.
According to the billboard at the entrance of the proposed park, next to the Waterfront Centre on North Church Street, the project is being spearheaded by the Office of the Premier, Celebrate Cayman and the George Town Revitalisation Initiative.
At the 2021 National Heroes Day celebrations in January 2021, then Premier Alden McLaughlin announced that two new landmarks would honour Cayman’s seafaring heritage. Subsequently, the groundbreaking at the Seafarers Park site was held the following month, and Harbour Drive was renamed as Seafarers Way in July last year.
Parks touted at two former gov’t buildings over a decade
For more than a decade, politicians have been proposing using the Tower Building site, and another former government building, the Glass House, as public green spaces in George Town.
From the time the government-owned Tower Building was condemned in 2005, after being badly damaged in 2004’s Hurricane Ivan, there have been discussions about opening a park there.
The Tower Building had housed several government departments, including Lands and Survey, Planning, Children and Family Services, General Registry and the Legal Department. Even before the hurricane, there had been plans to demolish the building, which had ventilation and mould issues. It was eventually torn down in 2009.
The site was used for a time as the George Town bus depot and then as a car park, which was closed in 2011, reportedly to make way for a new park.
A similar plan to create a park at the location of the Glass House was also touted at the time the site was emptied in 2011 and the government departments it housed moved next door to the purpose-built Government Administration Building.
The 35,000-square-feet Glass House has sat vacant since then, and has yet to be demolished after bids for proposals for tearing down the site garnered little response.
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I have already written to another news outlet, the “Glass House” can be professionally cleansed of asbestos, (if it exists!) and the building could and should be the home of a much needed Cayman Museum. The park is already there and the whole facility would become a National treasure and also a major tourist attraction. The old Tower Building site will still be of great benfit to any future Government, as a valuable property in the centre of our Capitol town.