Construction on the final phase of a major Puerto Rico housing and commercial development project in San Juan started Sept. 18.
Design work began on the Ciudadela project in the Santurce neighborhood in 2003 and construction in 2005. The developer went into bankruptcy during the recession.
Investor Nicholas Prouty, then based in Connecticut, examined the existing buildings and did a market study. In 2012 he took over the project.
Phases one and two of the residential and commercial complex were completed in 2012.
Puerto Rico's government announced Thursday the start of a third phase of construction at the site. This will construct five towers with 252 apartments and 50,000 square feet of commercial space.
Total investment in the project is said to be $108 million and create about 1,000 direct and indirect jobs.
In addition, Prouty's firm Putnam Holdings, which owns the Ciudadela complex, will create a nearby park at a cost of $6 million.
Ciudadela is within a block of the Museum of Puerto Rico Art and the Luis Ferré Performing Arts Center.
Ciudadela "has been one of the greatest business decisions I have made," Prouty said in early February. On Thursday, development's web site indicated that all of its two-bedroom condominiums had sold out. One-bedroom condominiums were available at $170,000 and three-bedroom condominiums were available at $300,000.
Putnam Holdings is investing several hundred million dollars in Ciudadela. It is also spending $450 million in purchasing, expanding, and improving the largest marina in Puerto Rico, the Puerto Del Rey marina in the northeast Puerto Rico town of Fajardo.
Prouty has moved to Puerto Rico. He is among several wealthy United States investors who have recently invested large sums of money into Puerto Rico residential or tourism developments.
This year John Paulson's Paulson & Co. firm paid $260 million for two upscale hotels in San Juan. In recent years Paulson also has bought stakes in a golf club, a beach resort and has decided to build a waterfront residence.
At Thursday's groundbreaking ceremony, Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro García Padilla said of Prouty, "You have communicated repeatedly your deep belief in Puerto Rico with your peers in the American investment community. We need more people like you with your vision."
