Jockey International has put its Sandy Bay plant on the market for US$5.6 million, or about US$63.90 per square foot, but Coldwell Bankers which is handling that sale declined comment on whether there are similar plans for the garment company's other factory in Lucea.

The 87,649-square-foot plant which sits on 9.84 acres of land in the seaside Hanover township of Sandy Bay, has been on the market for two months.

24 years of operation

Jockey, an American company that operated in Jamaica for 24 years, is selling the plant sans equipment, which was shipped back home.

The Lucea plant still has its equipment, but asked if that plant too was on the market Coldwell's Nicola Delapenha, the realtor handling the listing for Sandy Bay, said she would leave it to Jockey to comment.

Both plants are located miles apart in adjoining townships in Hanover.

The Lucea plant is 56,000 square feet in size. Based on the asking price for the Sandy Bay factory, the space is valued at US$3.6 million, not including equipment.

Prior to Jockey's pull-out, government had attempted to broker a sale of the factory to an information technology company, but the deal fell through because of the investment the investor would be required to make in retrofitting the plant.

Industry and Commerce Minister Karl Samuda also said last year that investment promotion agency, Jamaica Trade and Invest, was attempting to broker a sale with another potential investor.

But those talks also seem to have fallen through.

"We can't get anybody to invest in it from the ITC business because it is not designed for that, and the manufacturing sector, as you know, is under pressure," Samuda told told Wednesday Business.

Jockey International, which produces mostly under garments, said the closure of the Lucea factory was linked to the shutdown of its Cooleemee, North Carolina knitting facility, from which the Jamaica operation sources its fabric.

The Lucea lockdown killed 575 jobs.

dionne.rose@gleanerjm.com