THE old Forum Hotel and Villas in Portmore has been leased to the Jamaica Christian College, an affiliate of the New Testament Church of God.

Dr Vin Lawrence, the chairman of the Urban Development Corporation, told yesterday’s signing ceremony at the UDC’s corporate office that the property is being leased for 30 years, with an option to renew or purchase.

The lease payment is $180,000 monthly, but the church college has been given a moratorium on payments for three years.

“The complex will be used for health and education purposes, but requires significant refurbishing and this will be done in the first three years, hence there has been a moratorium on lease payments for three years,” said Lawrence.

The government, he said, believe the lease to the Jamaica Christian College would bring value to the Portmore community, adding that the potential for human resource development was far more important than receiving commercial rental for the property and which influenced the decisions and terms of agreement.

Rev Dr Wellesley Blair, who signed on behalf of the Jamaica Christian College, said he did so with pride and joy, but would be moving by faith given the poor condition of the premises.

The property has been vandalised and the UDC said 19 of the cottages which had been structually affected had to be demolished as they had become unsafe.

The 200-room hotel and 75-bungalow property was built in the 1970s and started as the Adventure Inn. It ceased operations as a hotel in 1978. The UDC managed the property on behalf of the government in 1982. Five years later, in 1987, it was handed over to the health ministry but was returned to the UDC in 1995.

It has been used to provide short-term accommodation for personnel working on several government projects, while proposals for its long-term use were being pursued. Among the proposals were a training facility for nurses, relocating the Eventide Home for the aged, which was destroyed by fire in 1980, and converting the towers to apartments and selling the cottages.

“It has taken us some time to get a plan for the Forum which meets our requirements for sustainability. But we are confident that the right group has been identified and that the complex will be put to good use to serve the needs of the community,” said the UDC’s Lawrence.