PAN TRINBAGO's new headquarters at the old General Post Office, Wrightson Road, Port of Spain, will cost an estimated $120 million, a release from the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts said on August 26.
It is proposed that the headquarters should be a six-storey, mixed-use building, with Pan Trinbago office space, the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, Tourism Trinidad Ltd, the National Carnival Commission, a theatre/auditorium with seating for 300, a pan museum and interpretive centre, conference and meeting rooms, rooftop entertainment area, gift shop, cafeteria and parking facilities.
The release added that it is being proposed that state entities housed at the building will not be required to pay rent to Pan Trinbago for up to 50 years.
“It is anticipated that the theatre/auditorium, pan museum, gift shop, rooftop and cafeteria will earn additional revenue for Pan Trinbago,” the release said.
The Prime Minister announced on August 24, at the Pan is More Beautiful orchestra finals, that Pan Trinbago and the Government had agreed to a design for a headquarters “worthy of its location” in the capital.
Dr Rowley also promised then that the public would see the architects’ rendering of what the building would look like.
“I am guaranteeing you that you will be proud," he said, explaining that it would look "somewhere like a pan in the city of Port of Spain, the only city in the world that will have a building like that.
“Pan Trinbago and the Government will share that building, with Pan Trinbago using its share of the building to support its financial ventures and be in a location worthy of the home where steelband was invented.”
[caption id="attachment_1105074" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Mood board and design inspiration for cafeteria, conference rooms and theatre auditorium of proposed Pan Trinbago headquarters. -[/caption]
About the space
The ministry's release said the Wrightson Road space is approximately 44,347 square feet.
It said the current building – which was last used by the Surveys and Mapping division, Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries – would be demolished.
It added that Pan Trinbago would be owners of the land and the property to be constructed. A special-purpose company would be responsible for administration, maintenance, rental, and other logistical tasks related to the building's use.
Ramsey-Moore: Serious negotiations
Pan Trinbago president Beverley Ramsey-Moore said the organisation had negotiated “really hard” with the Government about the land swap.
Pan Trinbago was previously to have been based in Trincity, but its proposed base there is abandoned and unfinished.
In a phone interview on Monday, Ramsey-Moore said, “We know that Pan Trinbago is a very important institution here in Trinidad and Tobago and, we, as leaders, would have been giving our time to the development of this country by using pan as a vehicle for social transformation.”
Ramsey-Moore said as long as organisations/people outline their worth and the role they
