Groundbreaking at Indigo Bay

By Christopher Tobutt

Indigo Bay is the name of a new, high quality development of town houses on opposite side of the road from Grand Harbour, in South Sound. Saturday marked the ground-breaking, when the new development officially began being built. David Nelson, President of Indigo Bay Development Ltd., said: “We will be building 29 town houses, and we have 520 feet of ocean front on South Sound. Between here and the edge of the reef it’s only about 6 foot deep, so it’s really like having your own saltwater swimming pool. It’s ideal for Kayaking and paddle-boarding.”

Anybody who was here during the nightmare of Hurricane Ivan will know very well that the most frightening thing wasn’t the wind, it was the ocean surge , estimated at between eight to ten feet at the time, and the huge, relentless waves which destroyed condo developments not more than two miles to the east. Well, the new developers have thought of that: “The new homes are going to be built between 11 and 12 feet above sea level,” Mr. Nelson said. The new homes will sit on as stem walls, so that their ground-floor will be high-and-dry, should disaster strike. Each of the houses is going to be between 2,100 and 2,712 square feet. They will have two floors and three bedrooms each. Each home will be equipped with solar panels. “I would anticipate each home will be 80 or 90 percent self-sufficient,” Mr. Nelson said, and each parking space will be equipped with wiring for electric car battery recharging. Each of the new houses is being sold at prices beginning around 1.2 Million US dollars.

These are long-term homes, where a young family can grow. Eric Fell and his wife Robyn are buying one of the new houses. “Right now, lots of developments in Cayman are condo-style. But we are a young family of 4, and we didn’t want to be going up to the second or third floor, for our entry. At the moment we are living at Pirates Lair, and we are outgrowing it,” Eric said. “I think the green space sold me, more than anything,” Robyn said. It’s a lot of green space for a development like this; roughly a third of the overall area. There is also going to be a 150-foot dock, with a nice roomy gazebo at the end of it. That should be just fine for watching the sunset. “We are going to make use of that every single day,” Robyn said. “Paddle boarding, snorkeling, lounging. Our children already love the water. Our oldest is almost swimming, and our two year old is starting to learn, so by the time this is ready they’ll be swimming.”

The expected completion-date for Phase One is going to be in March 2021. There were quite a lot few of children at the event, and there were lots of paddle-boards for them to try out. Alex Goulden still hasn’t quite made up his mind about whether or not to buy one of the new homes, but was there with his 11-year old son, Christian, who had already been out on a paddle-board. “I’m thinking seriously about it – probably one of the smaller ones,” he said. “I like the proximity to all the amenities of Grand Harbour, and the view of South Sound and the view of the reef. I’ve been snorkeling out here, and its lovely. I grew up in Grand Cayman, and I used to come here, with my dad in a little aluminum boat, so I know it very well.”

Hon. Roy McTaggart Minister of Finance and Economic Development also shared some fond memories of coming around here as a boy. “It’s a high quality development if you look around and see what’s happening in Grand Harbour, and the development behind Hurleys, there are a number of very high quality developments that are about to get underway,” he said.

Ground breaking from left to Right: Neil Armstrong, President of Clan Construction Ltd; David Nelson, President of Indigo Bay Development Ltd.; Roy McTaggart, David Spence Project Manager; Thomas Bolas, President of BOLAS Engineering; Pedro Theye, Architect, Elegant Design Build LLC