$100 Million Festival Marketplace To Be Built Downtown

The redevelopment of downtown Kingston is moving apace, with the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) set to undertake major projects, including the $100 million construction of a Festival Marketplace.

“We are putting in a Festival Marketplace for entertainment and restaurants. What we want to do is to return life to downtown Kingston after 5’0 clock in the evenings,” Chairman of the Corporation, Senator K.D. Knight, said on February 10 at a media briefing, held at the UDC’s downtown Kingston offices.

Mr. Knight also disclosed plans for the construction of an office complex in the area.

“The Corporation is also exploring ways of partnering with the National Housing Trust (NHT), to see how there can be a transformative improvement of the housing stock downtown. We want people who live here, to live in better conditions; we want people who live elsewhere now, to come downtown; and we want the city of Kingston to be alive,” he said.

The Festival Marketplace is to be constructed on 8.9 acres of prime land, and will be one more element and attraction in the development of the Kingston Waterfront. It will be an extension of the renewed Market and Commercial Districts to the north, as well as the terminal point of the existing east-west pedestrian arcade and promenade.

It will include in-bond and local shopping, restaurants and bars, loft apartments, multi-use commercial/office space, indoor/outdoor  exhibition space, vendors arcade, marina and  docking facilities, multi-purpose outdoor recreational/entertainment space adjacent to the craft market and  parking.

The UDC is on a thrust to spearhead a multi-agency approach to the development and rejuvenation of areas in downtown Kingston and Port Royal, by arresting physical and social blight within the development area, to improve economic and social conditions.