The lovely residential area of San Pablo was the fourth area in San Pedro to be developed after the town core, Boca Del Rio, and San Juan. This area was conceived in the minds of Hon. Area Representative, Glenn Godfrey along with the PUP Town Board at the time. It was conceived with the idea of providing much needed land for residential purposes and to offer it at very low prices considering that real estate had driven prices up to the sky.
The ninety or so acres was purchased from a foreign group known as Caribbean Coves, and it managed by a company known as Sunset Coves because it is illegal for the town board to handle real estate. To obtain the money to purchase the 100 percent mangrove area, Sanpedranos put the money up front and with five hundred dollars you could own one lot, two lots for seven hundred dollars and three lots for one thousand dollars. Then dredges were moved in to start filling the lots. Lots along the canals were sold at ten thousand dollars to foreigners mostly and the money was used to finance the cost of filling the residential lots.
Again dirty politics entered the scene and something happened at Sunset Coves. A piece of land in town was traded with a piece of land in San Pablo to build the Ambergris Stadium. It was a lovely project, but the paperwork was not completed and the UDP government entered Belmopan. Because of hatred for Glenn Godfrey, there was a threat to sue Sunset Coves for thousands of dollars because the government would not honor the sale of lots in town by the high school. This would have meant the losing of the stadium and San Pablo as well. Therefore Godfrey and partner, Mr. Gillett, who was the land developer, opted to put Sunset Coves into a receivership, or else the government would have taken it over. As such Gillett became the receivership and so the land passed on to other parties.
Unfortunately not everyone received their two or three lots. Everyone got only one. The remainder of the land was eventually turned over to a new company known as Western Caribbean and was sold to D.F.C. (The Development Finance Corporation) for a housing project, the same area now known as D.F.C area.
San Pablo has grown from two or three houses first owned by Lincoln Eiley, Bruce Collins of the San Pedro Sun, and yours truly, who was the third person to move in the San Pablo area. Today most of the lots now boast lovely homes and construction is on going. The canal lots and beachside lots offer attractive residential properties. Lots can be purchased from DFC for about thirty thousand dollars each and private owners have put up the sale of one lot for up to sixty thousand dollars. San Pablo now offers to its residents peace and tranquility, electricity, phone, cable television, and water. Sewer service is not yet offered, but it is something worthy to be considered by BWS. And yes, it boasts the only public sports stadium in town. With the commercial marina passing through that area, soon it will be another busy section of town. Congratulations to all residents in the subdivision who have developed it into a nice residential area, an area that all can be proud of.
Photo Caption: Aerial view of San Pablo 2002.
