The St. Lucia Mortgage Finance Company Ltd.

The St. Lucia Mortgage Finance Company Ltd. (SMFC) was established in 1968 and operates under an agreement with the Government of St. Lucia to provide loans for the purchase, construction or extension of dwelling houses and the purchase of developed plots of land approved for housing. In addition, the company offers 'Home-equity' loans whereby houses may be re-mortgaged to provide funding for special purposes.

The NIC purchased the shares previously owned by the Commonwealth Development Corporation and currently is a 75% shareholder of the company.

NIPRO

NIPRO was incorporated on April 30, 1999. Currently, the board of directors composes

• Mr. Sean Matthew - Chairperson.
  Mr Matthew is the Chief Engineer at the St. Lucia Air & Sea Ports Authority
• Ms Emma Hippolyte - Deputy-Chairperson.
  Ms Hippolyte is the director of the National Insurance Corporation.
• Mr Rostan Taylor - Director
  General Manager of North American Assemblies Ltd.
• Mrs Allison king-Joseph - Director
• Vern Gill - Director
• Dr Bernard La Corbinere - Director

Financing for NIPRO comes from the NIC in the form of loans and equity, and is guided by an agreement with NIC.

The immediate projects of NIPRO include:-

1. Maintenance of the buildings of NIC under contract with NIC.
2. The construction of ten police and fire stations around the island.
3. The refurbishment of 5 police stations around the island under a contract with the Government of St. Lucia.
4. The Management of the Castries Car Park Facility under a contract with that company and an associated contract with the Government of St. Lucia to manage parking within the City of Castries.

The Castries Car Park Facility

New multi-storey car park to ease congestion

Castries Car Park Facility Limited The Castries multi-storey, multipurpose facility project was initiated by the Government of Saint Lucia and has since become a project of the National Insurance Corporation (NIC) and the National Insurance Property Development Company Limited (NIPDEC). A feasibility study was submitted to the Government of Saint Lucia in October 1996 and a revised feasibility study was submitted in October/November 1997. Since then, negotiations have been held among NIPDEC, the NIC and the Government of Saint Lucia. As a result, a Special Purpose Company, Castries Carpark Facility Limited, was formed with NIC and NIPDEC as the shareholders.

Justification for the Car Park Facility The City of Castries is the main anchor and focus of an urban region that stretches to Gros Islet. All the main Government offices, most of the shopping centres, the majority of professional, banking and other commercial services offered on-island are located in Castries. Consequently, like all other capital cities in the region, it accommodates more than twice its resident population during the daytime. This multi-storey carpark facility is one of the strategies for easing the traffic congestion by providing safe parking spaces in the overcrowded capital city. It is also proposed that the Company be given the responsibility for the operation of a paid on-street parking voucher system within the city of Castries. The Carpark building is a six (6)-floor multi-purpose facility comprising 156,300 sq ft and located at the southern end of the Graham Louisy Administrative Building in Castries. It offers an integrated mix of accommodation for car parking, commercial activity and offices as follows:

1. Three hundred and twenty-one (321) car parking spaces.
2. Rental area of nineteen thousand, eight hundred (19,800) sq ft for offices.
3. Rental area of fifteen thousand, eight hundred (15,800) sq. ft. for commercial activities including a food court area, supermarket, post office and an open-air terrace on the roof of the building. The project was constructed under a turn-key arrangement by NIPDEC.

The technical team on the project follows:

1. Architects – NLBA/IAP
2. Civil Engineer – Thomas Walcott
3. Mechanical & Electrical Engineer – Francis & Francis
4. Quality Surveyors – Skinner Harper & Dolcy

The cost of the project is estimated at EC$23.8 million dollars. The proposed financing mechanism of the project was a mix of debt to equity in a ratio of 60:40. The debt financing was provided by a commercial Bank and the National Insurance Board at a fixed rate and repayable over a fifteen- year period. The equity will be raised through the Company which owns and manages the facility with shareholdings as follows: NIS 85%, NIPDEC 15%.

Blue Coral Ltd.

The remodeled building will be designed to create a shopping experience and a spot of spending leisure time.

The layout of the stores within the building will differentiate it from the shopping mall format. Instead of cellular spaces connected by an internal street, the interior spaces are designed to flow within the ground volume of the building, creating a seamless shop­ping experience - a destination.

It is proposed that the external of the building be cladded with colour-coated aluminum rain-screen system.

The northern facade, the fenestration will be designed to form "Vertical Display Strips" and provide light ventilation-wells into the store. On either side of these ýdisplay-stripsý are full height vertical perforated anodized aluminum screens, set perpendicular to the facade forming brises-soleil shading the glass-bays from excess solar heat gain.

At night the perforated screens glow with the illuminated "display strips" adding to the building is the louvered canopy of the pro­posed new "Sky" garden restaurant, constructed out of the light-weight steel structure.

The main entry to the building will be via the Boulevard a generous foyer houses the vertical circulation to the floor above, and the ground floor. The design proposes a creation of the three open vertical shafts forming atrial/lightwells and circulation spaces. Click here to learn more about Blue Coral and how you can lease a part of St. Lucia's City Centre.