Dart plans ‘health hub’ in Camana Bay
(CNS): Dart is seeking planning permission for a new Centre of Health and Wellness on the edge of Camana Bay next door to the new Health City Cayman Islands hospital with the intention of creating a “hub of medical facilities in the community’s south end”, according to a release on the developer’s website. The project, which will cost almost $50 million, will be considered by the CPA today and is part of Dart’s wider Camana Bay project.
Wednesday’s CPA agenda shows that the proposal is for a five-storey building adjacent to the new Heath City campus, though the press release referred to just three storeys. The project includes an office block, restaurant, retail units, two generators and parking. Dart said the centre will be located in an area that aims to provide a convenient environment for health and wellness clients and improve accessibility to healthcare services by bringing a variety of experts and practitioners together under one roof.
As the company continues its relentless development, it implied in the release that this project would support rather than compete with HCCI, which, despite holding a pre-opening celebratory event in July, is not expected to open until later this year. Dart said it continues to work with HCCI to provide programme and construction management services for the new hospital.
Meanwhile, Dart Vice President of Leasing and Business Development Kristy Rivers said several discussions were held with public and private-sector stakeholders before embarking on the project.
“We’ve paid acute attention to the demands of the local healthcare community as we thoughtfully reshape the landscape to expand offerings for the benefit of our resident and tourist populations,” she said.
“For us, this was the obvious next step in catering to the needs of a blossoming community. Health and wellness has been a core feature of what we have been developing at Camana Bay over the years and the timing is right to help improve the accessibility of healthcare services … in a convenient location close to George Town and Seven Mile Beach,” she added.
The Centre for Health and Wellness, scheduled to open in 2026, will be built between the Airport Connector Road and the Esterley Tibbetts Highway, within walking distance of the Camana Bay Town Centre.
Details provided by the Department of Environment to the CPA for today’s hearing point out that the site consists of mangrove forests, although it has been impacted over time by development in the area. Despite being a protected species, once the new health centre is granted planning permission, Dart will be at liberty to remove all of these critically important trees.
However, at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon event in July 2022, the president of business development at Dart, Jackie Doak, pledged that going forward, the company would conserve one acre of natural habitat for every acre it develops in the future. She also said that Dart would not begin any new projects until the government completes the revised National Development Plan.
But with no sign of the development plan, the developer appears ready to start pouring concrete again regardless, though it has not said anything about setting aside an equivalent-sized plot to the one it is proposing to develop for preservation purposes. What it will be doing, however, is laying concrete for parking for over 393 cars.
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Category: development, Health, Local News, Medical Health
great news. in dart i trust.
I’d be interested to see if the proportion of mega-homes and wealth among medical practitioners (dentists, doctors, physio’s, “wellness” advisors, etc) in our little country is similar to anywhere else in the world?
the cost of basic medical(incl dental/vision/etc) care here is simply jaw dropping and wholly unaffordable for most, probably 90%+ of the population. there is no reason for the high costs – the profit margins are there to allow every single procedure, visit, etc to be massively reduced.
the issue is the lack of genuine oversight and enforcement, and greed. as usual, complete greed. If your doc or physio or pharmacist has a lovely watch and gets out of a new model german auto, just back from yet another vacation, maybe take a beat and wonder why.
Insurance policies are scandalous. infact, the entire concept of insurance is scandalous, based on the contract that as long as you dont use it, we’ll charge you more anyhow. But if you do use it, we’ll make it completely unaffordable.
Seriously, what is wrong with us that we allow clear robbery and corruption to operate to our detriment? What are we afraid of? if 90% of us simply say no to health/auto/home insurance., etc….the industry collapses…not us. They have to act.
No doubt the next election we’ll see massive change….ffs
Concrete parking? Sure about that?
ALT getting ready to bulldoze half of the central mangrove and you focused on a few parking spaces?
Dart gets what Dart wants. No questions asked. Just promise the vacuous CIG a new road and hey presto!
Dart might only play one tune, but they quite often fail to get what they (or he) wants and we should be very thankful for that. Cayman has a handful of lawyers and citizens out there, fighting the good fight on their own dime, and we should applaud them for this.
you’d be surprised
Burning dump smoke healing and thermal brown lagoon waste baths.
There is a plan
For a Cayman
Size of which is untold
Construction dictates
We open the gates
Let anyone into the fold
Megalopolis
Mega edifice
A tunnel that goes nowhere
Gangster politics
Developers tricks
Its all up for sale- no one cares
Only CNS readers would complain about having additional health facilities.
If you prefer flying to Miami and staying in a hotel, versus staying comfortably in Cayman, then continue your complaining.
Must be a booming business, but I’d rather have quality over quantity. The further sprawl with fancy new facilities is not necessarily indicative of quality. Case in point, quality is not what it used to be at Health City. And there are just a handful of what I would call real doctors practicing in these islands, the rest are just in it for the money.
None of this would be happening if it were not for the fact that we follow the dreadful US model of “for profit health insurance” which rips off its patients…those who can afford it, the others are left to Government/tax payers to fund… and pays gazillions to doctors and medical facilities. Shameful profiteering.
But that is the Cayman way mate!