Limegrove

A stylish place to shop, dine and live in Barbados, Limegrove, located in the heart of Holetown is a signature location with a trove of duty free jewellery, apparel and accessories, featuring more than 100 of the world’s best known fashion brands. We spoke with Patricia Mckenzie, head of marketing at Limegrove to discuss what makes them singular and special.

WRITTEN BY JACK SLATER

THE LIMEGROVE STYLE

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Limegrove is more than just a shopping destination for tourists travelling to Barbados and Patricia is proud of their involvement in the local community, “We are a proud supporter of Barbados

and its local communities,” she says, “In addition to the generation of financial activity and foreign exchange, we directly and indirectly employ and contract the services of approximately 400 local people.”

They also participate in a number of activities and support a wide-range of community-centred projects.

“We work closely with the Barbados Community Foundation to support social responsibility programmes,” she reveals, “Through them we can officially raise funds for a number of charities as well as supporting local community initiatives.”

While opening their doors and allowing such initiatives and charities to make use of space at Limegrove to build grassroots support for their causes, Patricia highlights that they make a concerted and special effort to support by offering hands-on advice and guidance as well as concessional rates. For example, she tells us that the Optimist Club of Barbados benefits from a paid-parking and contribution system that is in effect on Friday nights, the Centre’s busiest period of the week.

“We support local artisans by regularly hosting craft fairs, which give talented craftsmen and craftswomen the opportunity to showcase and sell locally manufactured goods,” she says, “And we are very proud to be home to Marge, our cow sculpture, who is the most recent addition to the Palm Courtyard and is an example of “art in motion.”’


Dubbed by London’s Daily Telegraph as the “Most stylish place to shop and dine” Limegrove has become a mainstay for tourists and locals alike with its convenient location only a stone’s throw from the wonderful beaches of the Caribbean Sea’s platinum coast: Sandy Lane, Royal Westmoreland, Sugar Hill and Ape’s Hill.

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There is a deeper meaning behind Marge, which at first glance may seem to be just an interesting piece of décor. Patricia reveals that it is a reminder of the site’s humble beginnings as a cow pasture and serves as a symbol of Limegrove’s role in the wider community.

In November 2014, the first “Marge” received a makeover from local artist Catharine Cummins. Marge was then sold with part of the proceeds from the sale being directed to charity through the Barbados Community Foundation.

In 2015, Limegrove was pleased to welcome back Catharine Cummins for the makeover of Marge number two and visitors to the Centre were encouraged to come and see Marge’s makeover live.

THE BIGGER PICTUREBarbados is teeming with a wealth of expression and as one

of the community pillars, Limegrove is vigilant to support as much of it as they can. Proud partners of the Barbados Photographic Society, which is a non-profit group dedicated to fostering the art of photography in an area where some of the best pictures can be taken.

“It is through collaborations such as this that we are able to

not only celebrate the arts to be found within our local Barbados community,” Patricia says, “But support them as well. We were delighted to host many of the society’s photographs, featuring Limegrove, on our website,”

LIFE AT LIMEGROVEThe Grove Residences are a combination of luxury apartments

and penthouse suites and the Hillside Villas at The Grove, currently for sale, offer a living experience unmatched anywhere in Barbados. “Our villas feature a unique open design inspired by loft living, with high ceilings and plenty of natural light,” Patricia says. She adds that there are eight in total with 3,433 square feet of living space including three bedrooms and bathrooms over three levels.

“One third of the living space is outdoors and includes a pool deck, garden decks on the ground level and two decks off the main living level,” she says.

The exterior architecture is a modern take on traditional design, which complements the chic surroundings of the Limegrove Lifestyle Centre while making full use of the majestic beauty of Barbados’ other architectural surroundings. Each villa benefits from a private pool with easy access to the beach and world class


shopping and gourmet dining to be found within Limegrove itself. Furthermore, any visitors have the added benefit of knowing

that all this does not come with a hefty cost to the environment, which is part of the natural splendour of this area. It is quickly apparent that at Limegrove, “going green” is not some token gesture but a corporate commitment to environmental sustainability.

This is why, Patricia reveals, Limegrove embarked on a number of initiatives with the ultimate goal of earning the prestigious LEED Certification for environmentally friendly commercial projects and has set out to achieve this in a number of ways.

REDUCTION OF AREA FLOODING Up until the development of Limegrove there had been no

buildings on the site’s location because it was a low lying flood zone. The floods had been an ongoing and highly damaging problem for the local community and it took a combination of a large number of environmental studies followed by aggressive engineering to eliminate the flooding and to ensure the integrity of the project’s foundation.

“Naturally, eliminating the flooding to make way for the construction of Limegrove was a prestigious and appreciated

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project that involved in the community,” Patricia highlights. Then, to best capture the spirit of historic Holetown, the

buildings at Limegrove were constructed from recycled materials with many of the walls made from natural coral stone and the walkways feature recycled bricks.

Furthermore, Limegrove carefully examines the products that staff, tenants and guests use on a day-to-day basis, in order to understand opportunities to reduce, reuse or recycle waste as part of their waste management initiative. Currently, Limegrove refills ink cartridges, recycles paper and has plans to use grey water from the on-site sewage treatment plant for irrigation.

Management of waste and construction via recycled products are one thing, but Limegrove has taken it a step further with the creation of green spaces for their community. Understanding the aesthetic, environmental and psychological benefits of green spaces, which are a common feature around the centre, they have gone to extreme lengths to fit in as much as possible.

“During development, The Sandbox Building, which houses Burberry and Hugo Boss, was given a “J shape” to preserve the sandbox tree that is located there and today it features a green courtyard,” she illustrates.

Natural flowering trees, including lime trees, bay leaf trees and

palm trees surround the parking and outdoor areas and in addition, the residential areas at Limegrove are intentionally designed to provide a great deal of space for “greening” and landscaping.

“On the rooftop, we have created a starter shed to grow herbs, which restaurants in the Centre can use for their menus,” she says. Still under development, the green roof will be additionally useful for absorbing rainwater and providing insulation to the building.

THE MAN BEHIND IT ALLIn 1980, Paul Altman joined the team for the creation of the

Speightstown Mall. Located in Barbados’ most northern city, this was and is a treasured conservation area and signalled the start of Paul’s career in development. During his tenure as President of the Barbados National Trust, Paul had the opportunity to oversee improvement of the town, particularly significant because of its rich, historic past. This ignited a passion which led to the creation of many signature developments associated with the Altman Real Estate brand.

“I’m in the real estate business and have been involved in a number of projects where I have been acting on behalf of investors or investing in myself,” Paul tells us, “Limegrove gave the opportunity to go into a mix used development that has everything

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with it- restaurants, retail, hotels, films, cinemas and residential.”Paul explains that the particular site lent itself to this

development. It was abandoned because people didn’t understand how to develop it but he had the experience to make it happen.

“Barbados is a high profile destination,” he adds, “And Limegrove is influenced and inspired by Havana, Miami, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York (Soho), Singapore and other trendy destinations.”

Throughout the architecture you can catch glimpses of the original influences and the atmosphere of Limegrove. This mixed-use facility presents the world’s top retail brands, all set around courtyards where visitors spend time enjoying food, fashion, art and film.

Paul reveals that shortly they will be opening a signature rooftop restaurant, a radio station as well as refurbishing a number of restaurants and this is over and above the usual score of events and promotions they have year round focussed around the Barbados obsession with food, wine, rum and music.

“There is always change and excitement that takes the level of experience to the next stage,” he says, revealing something that is important to him, “It must be pushed and advanced. You have to be constantly in touch with products in new markets, in touch and tweaking it and extracting the highest level for the public.

Constantly reviewing, upgrading and acting is vital, instead of reacting.”

It is remarkable that a flood-prone pasture used to graze cattle has been so neatly transformed into the Caribbean’s signature lifestyle centre and it is a credit to Paul’s ingenuity and vision. He is quoted as saying;

“Before Limegrove, there was a void of high-end duty free shopping in Barbados. Limegrove introduced this at the highest end possible, in an environment that is socially inviting. There is a culture and an image surrounding Limegrove that makes our visitors feel special.”

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Limegrove