Costa Rica, a Beachhead for Luxury
Costa Rica
In a Corner of Costa Rica
Zehbrauskas for The New York Times
A winter ride near Hacienda Pinilla in Guanacaste province in
By JANELLE BROWN
Published: February 3, 2006
THE
The New York Times
Jean and Tony Capezza of
Before visitors even leave the tarmac, though, smiling representatives from the local Chamber of Tourism are there to greet their out-of-town guests, most of whom have just arrived on the new direct three-hour flights from
For decades the remote Pacific Coast of northern
All up and down the coast, bulldozers are at work. Three major developments, including a project anchored by a Four Seasons hotel, are already selling luxury condominiums for $500,000 and up, and hundreds of smaller, more speculative endeavors are also breaking ground. The airport in
In the airport lines, Americans talk in urgent tones about the money to be made, about "Wild West" opportunities. Never mind that Guanacaste is still a region of cattle ranchers and rutted roads. The new homesteaders envision a beach, golf and spa destination equal to the
"It's hard for me to look at all this change — you're used to how uncluttered it was," said Chris Mailloux, a ReMax agent whose family has been selling real estate in the area for 13 years. In one abbreviated block near his office, in the tiny fishing
Or, as Brad Schmidt, a local builder and an American expatriate in
HISTORICALLY, the smattering of vacation homes in
"The image problem doesn't exist anymore," said Roger Gallo, founder of Escape Artiste , a newsletter for Americans that focuses on Central and
Bill Royster, the developer behind the luxurious Sueños resort south of Guanacaste on the Pacific near the town of
And what about that property? In Guanacaste, the jungle runs straight from the volcanoes to the sea, where it overlooks a warm azure ocean from 200-foot bluffs. Armadillos, howler monkeys, small raccoon-like pizote, parrots and the occasional jaguar make their homes underneath the broad leaves of the mango and palm trees. The foliage grows up to
Until the developers began arriving with suitcases of cash, Guanacaste was mostly the domain of cowboys called sabaneros, whose legacy lingers at local rodeos. Roads must be shared with herds of ambling cattle and are often so potholed that local people drive on the ground along the side. Yet strung all along them are signs, all in English, advertising million-dollar villas.
"It's fairly easy to develop in Costa Rica; you have a good work force at extremely cheap prices," said William Knickman, a New Jersey developer who, with a group of friends, snapped up land in Guanacaste, formed a company called Costa Rica Lifestyle Development and is now selling lots for up to $300,000 apiece. "And it's hot, very hot, as a place for people to buy. It's booming right now."
The boom can be traced back to the 2,300-acre, $400 million Península Papagayo project, indisputably the most luxurious development on the coast. It lies on land that was set aside for tourism by the Costa Rican government in the late 1970's but remained uninterrupted jungle until 1997, when Alan Kelso, a Costa Rican developer, got American financing and broke ground. Península Papagayo has a Four Seasons resort and is expected to include three more hotels and more than 1,000 luxury homes, although, at the moment, only 44 houses and condos have been built. (They're selling for $2 million to $12 million.)
In a Corner of
Published: February 3, 2006
"We put the region on the map," Mr. Kelso said as he sat in Península Papagayo's command center, a facility peppered with satellite dishes. He also plans a marina, a polo field and, of course, the requisite three brand-name golf courses. "The whole challenge is to create a luxury market in a country that doesn't have a culture of service," he said. "We're trying to make it a high-end happening.
Adriana Zehbrauskas for The New York Times
To shield their patrons from pitted roads and electrical blackouts, developers have paid for their own infrastructure. Grupo Mapache, a Costa Rican developer that is building more than 20,000 low-priced condos in the Guanacaste area, has spent $2.5 million on roads and sewers. Península Papagayo has not only paid for its roads, sewers, buses and electricity but has even set up its own paramedics and fire brigade.
"We sell 'Costa Rica Lite': all of the upside with none of the downside," said Jeff Klein, a sales agent for the Papagayo project. "We're our own municipality."
The owners of Península Papagayo and two other high-end developments, Hacienda Pinilla and Reserva Conchal, even paid for that critical airport in
EARLIER efforts to develop Guanacaste were mostly underfinanced. On a road near the town of
At Hacienda Pinilla, hundreds of condominiums and villas are being built around
"It was destiny," he said. "I had no idea what I was going to do with the land. We'd come down once a year and stay in the old farmhouse, which had no electricity or running water." In the late 1990's he began developing home sites. "We really had to work hard to sell those first villas," he said. Things have changed. Over two weeks last year, Hacienda Pinilla sold 43 Spanish colonial condomiums for $580,000 and up without any advertising.
The
Many Americans who are buying now are looking for investments, eager to get in on the boom. But others simply love
"This is my garden; look at this!" Jean Capezza, 59, said as she gazed down over the jungle to the sea from her perch at Reserva Conchal, an upscale golf-course-anchored development of
Their house has already nearly doubled in value, but the downside of the real estate demand is the incessant grind of bulldozers nearby. The Capezzas fear more flights landing in
