New Chamber President Applauds Limegrove Project – The Advocate - June 9, 2010

On Monday, during his second official duty as President of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Andy Armstrong, Managing Director of Armstrong Agency took his first tour of the Limegrove development. The newly elected President was very impressed with the project, which will become a new commercial centre in Barbados. “To bring off a project of this magnitude, given the current depressed state of the Barbadian economy and the world economy, I think shows (Mr. Altman’s) boldness and vision and a confidence in the long-term viability of the Barbadian economy.”

Paul Altman, real estate developer and managing director of the firm Altman Real Estate told the Barbados Advocate that the project will be of great benefit to the economy of Barbados. “What we are doing here represents high end shopping.”He mentioned that “one of the offerings missing locally for us as a destination for tourism is a one stop single location for high end shopping.” He noted that although there exist some shops in Bridgetown and elsewhere that tourists are exposed to, “Here we would have it all in one place.”

According to Altman, the project, which he describes will be like a mini vacation for visitors will house attractions, which would impact the various sectors including fashion, film, food, art among others. He assured that the construction of this project should in no way affect business in Bridgetown, since it would attract a select set of shoppers.

The project has seen significant progress, Altman said. “We are putting up our final building, which should be done by the end of this year, which is the entrance building.” He indicated that the main commercial building will be ready by December while the other buildings would be completed later next year. It was estimated that this section of the project will cost around $100 million Barbados dollars.

The Limegrove development project had its official groundbreaking back in February 2008. The project is set to include a residential area, a shopping area, which houses stores which carry internationally recognized brands such as Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren and Cartier as well as an entertainment area.