Signal House, a new, tailored hub for tech and other businesses as part of Cayman Enterprise City, is preparing to open its doors in George Town.
Cayman Enterprise City CEO Charlie Kirkconnell said the new campus, located near the beginning of the Linford Pierson Highway, should be open for business this month. It is hoped the building’s features will meet the needs of the more than 300 businesses in the special economic zone.
“Opening the building means that the [special economic zone] will have found its permanent home,” Kirkconnell said.
Enterprise City, Cayman’s only special economic zone, launched in February 2012 to attract foreign direct investment and develop new business sectors besides financial services and tourism.
“CEC is built to diversify our economy and to create more opportunities for individuals in Cayman, and I think that’s a very important thing,” chief marketing and strategy officer Kaitlyn Elphinstone said.
A vision
The company first submitted plans to create a large commercial and residential park in 2015, getting approval for several modifications throughout the years. The developers envisioned a $230 million large mixed-use commercial and residential site including a city centre, commercial hub, boardwalk and luxury housing development.
For now, Enterprise City has focused on the 40,000-square-foot Signal House, which is the main office building for the economic zone businesses.
Kirkconnell said with the launch of the new headquarters, he hopes it will “bring everyone together in a purpose-built environment that features collaboration spaces and networking spaces like the café that we think will become a very important part of the community”.
Who is in the zone?
Kirkconnell said the new building can accommodate about 400 employees.
Nearly three-quarters of the businesses in the economic zone fall within internet, media, science and tech specialties. Commodities and derivatives make up 22% of the total, with 5.7% comprising maritime and aviation services.
An economic impact assessment prepared by Marla Dukharan in June 2023 estimated CEC had a cumulative impact of US$807 million since its inception in 2011, with $146.8 million in 2022. The new report is slated for publication in about a month.
Looking to the future
All these businesses have different needs, and Kirkconnell said Enterprise City endeavoured to make the offices as flexible as possible, to enable holding everything from casual brainstorming sessions to more formal meetings. Several areas include noise-reducing call boxes.
“One thing we think our clients are really going to like is that we invested heavily in the tech infrastructure of the building,” Kirkconnell said. “We’ll be able to offer connectivity solutions that are not typically available to small companies.”
As part of Enterprise City’s remit, it also promotes a variety of training for community members, both to those seeking to enter a new industry and those interested in learning a new skill. Kirkconnell said the new physical space should be a boon to its educational programmes by Enterprise Cayman.
Connections in Cayman
Kirkconnell said the Signal House name is inspired by the first telephone lines in the Cayman Islands, and other developments on the horizon will follow this trend of celebrating significant milestones in the jurisdiction’s history.
Elphinstone said the walls will be decorated with art depicting those first cables that make those connections, echoed in other design elements.
Next on the agenda is Catalina Place, celebrating the first commercial aeroplane, which Kirkconnell said should break ground toward the end of the year, with planning permission already secured. The third structure – Building 1905 – is named after the first car on island, a 1905 Cadillac.
‘Sustainability is our responsibility’
Chief development officer Cindy O’Hara said environmentally friendly practices were employed in the construction of Signal House, and they aim to continue that with the wider campus.
“Sustainability is our responsibility,” O’Hara said. “For the cost, I like to think of this as the most thoughtfully sustainable building there is.”
In particular, she said they prioritised using gravel to pave parking lots and other areas to allow more flexibility with building new elements of the ‘urban city’, rather than putting down non-reusable petroleum-based asphalt that would need to be ripped up later as new parts of the project are completed.
Original plans included a 10.7-acre Enterprise Lagoon and a ‘Living Waters’ park with a mangrove and wetland botanic lagoon. But in 2023, CEC sought to remove the lakes to make more room for school buildings and housing. Some community members expressed concern about potential flooding with the change in plans.
Though the modification was slated for consideration in a 6 Dec. Central Planning Authority meeting, it was postponed and still awaits review.
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