Billion Dollar Tourism Project For Guanacaste

Friday, August 31, 2007


By Ralph Nicholson

Two Hotels, Marina, Golf Course and 800 Home Sites

US developers on Wednesday announced plans for a 15-year, billion-dollar tourism project, to start construction in November on two beach-front properties in Guanacaste’s north.

The project, known simply as Guacamaya after one of the beaches, will include a Ritz Carlton hotel, a smaller, as-yet-unnamed boutique hotel, an 18-hole golf course, a 200-slip marina, an equestrian center and up to 800 single family homes.

For the first time, the project will include a desalinization plant that will turn sea water into drinking water and ease pressure on Guanacaste’s fragile water supplies.

“This further consolidates the area as a destination for the upscale tourist market,” said the Minister for Tourism, Carlos Ricardo Benavides, at a party to launch the project.

“To be chosen for the site of such an upscale or high end project, well, it is not every country that can do this,” he told about 120 invited guests from local and national government and the tourism industry.

Mr Benavides was speaking after officially opening the offices of Plantación Properties, an affiliate of Christie’s Great Estates, which will market and sell the residential arm of the project.

The development, to be built on about 800 hectares (2000 acres), is a partnership between Union Box Company of Baltimore in Maryland and Greenfield Partners, a privately-held real estate investment firm in South Norwalk, Connecticut.

The property, which was purchased in two chunks over three years, covers three, white-sand beaches --- Playas Guacamaya and Zapotal, plus the smaller Playa Celeste --- all about 25 kilometers (16 miles) north of Tamarindo.

A $100 million, 110-room Ritz Carlton hotel will be built across Zapotal beach, beginning construction late next year. Larry Silverstein, the Chief Executive Officer of Union Box Company, said he expected the hotel to be completed by the end of 2010.

“We talked to a number of hotels --- we approached some and others approached us --- but it was clear the Ritz was a very good fit for us,” Mr Silverstein said.

“That whole area is somewhat unknown,” he added. “For most people the world stops after Playa Potrero and starts again, further north, at Playa Ocotal. The Ritz is a distinct brand that can bring immediate recognition, as opposed to there being just another hotel.”

It is understood the developers will build the hotel, while the Ritz will lend its name to the structure, taking a management fee and a percentage of room sales, as has become customary with hotel projects.

Work on an 18-hole golf course, designed by architect Rees Jones, will start at the same time as the hotel. Mr Jones, who has designed more than 100 golf courses, mainly in the US, will lay out the course in the Zapotal Valley, which stretches about four kilometers back from the coast. There will be no residential sites within the valley.

A 200 slip marina, capable of docking so-called mega-yachts of up to 92 meters long (300 feet) will be sited at the southern end of the development, between Zapotal and Celeste beaches.

A boutique hotel, yet to be named, and of somewhere between 50 and 100 rooms, will be built to service the marina.

However, phase one, including more than 100 residential homes, will begin construction within three months, giving developers cash flow while they build the hotel, marina and golf course.
“We will release 140 lots to start with in what will be known as the Beach Village,” said Molly Harris, President of Plantación Properties.

“There will be architectural guidelines upon what people can build but at the same time our clients don’t want to deal with a cookie-cutter mentality,” Ms Harris said.

She confirmed house prices were likely to start around $800,000.

In phase two, luxury home lots --- about 100 of them --- will be released. Architects from both the United States and Costa Rica, will then build a variety of model homes. The houses will sell for between $5 and $10 million each.

There will be an equestrian center and horse trails throughout the property. Developers will also include a mountain-bike trail. Both are likely to spill over into neighboring properties as developers seek to share amenities.

In fact two other developments --- the Rosewood Hotel to the north and the project known as Las Catalinas to the south --- have already pledged to share such infrastructure as roadwork and possibly power.

It is also likely Guacamaya’s neighbors will want to share water infrastructure as well.

“The problem is not the existence of water but the infrastructure to distribute it,” Tourism Minister, Benevavides, said in response to questions. “And I have no doubt these projects are going to help us solve the problem.”

Mr Benavides confirmed the developers had formally asked for government assistance in setting up a desalinization plant.

“This is a brand new concept. We will be able to explain the project to the other institutions in the country and help them get through the red tape,” Mr Benavides said.

Mr Silverstein said the biggest challenges they faced were the same as for every developer along the coast --- a lack of infrastructure, finding a suitably skilled work-force and a backlog in supply of building materials.

“No there is not enough water,” he said. “We are not the only ones tapping that water reserve. We believe we have sufficient water to maintain the residential component, which is why we are building the desalinization plant.

“A desalinization plant is a new idea here, but the fact is that most of the resorts across the Caribbean are all operating on desalinized water.

“It is something we must do. I think what will bring buyers is the level of assurance we can give them. They want to be safe, they want water when they arrive here, and they want a constant supply of electricity.”

There have been a rash of developers announcing luxury hotel projects in the past 10 months.

The El Salvador-based Grupo Poma conglomerate, has already broken ground on a five-star, 180-room, JW Marriott resort on the property known as Hacienda Pinilla, south of Tamarindo.

The US-based, Global Financial Group has also announced plans for a $300 million 320-room Hyatt resort in Brasilito, and late last year two Minnesota developers announced they would build a $120 million, 150-room Regent Hotel on Guanacaste’s Papagayo Peninsula.

Steve Case, the founder of the internet giant America Online, announced plans last month to open an $800 million beach resort just south of Playa Hermosa, featuring two boutique hotels.

Meanwhile, Rosewood Hotels and Resorts, confirmed it has signed a management contract with developers HPC Costa Carmel Limitada to manage a new luxury resort to be built upon a 60-hectare (150-acre) property on Playa Guachipelín.