● Published News. Billion Dollar invest in Costa Rica.
● By Robert Goodier The Tico Times .
● Steve Case Steve Case formally announced plans for an $800 million luxury resort complex on Cacique Point, between Cocos and Hermosa beaches, in the Northwest province of Guanacaste.
● Published :
●Costa Rican newspapers for information on local issues, politics, events, celebrations, people and business.
Looking for accommodation, shopping, bargains and weather then this is the place to start. Information about holidays, vacations, resorts, real estate and property together with finance, stock market and investments reports; also look for theater, movies, culture, entertainment, activities and events all covered in Costa Rican newspapers.
THE Liberia airport, Costa Rica's new international hub, is not precisely a beacon of modern transportation.
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 Liberia, the capital of Guanacaste, is at the center of the transformation. Three years ago, when the first direct flights from the United States landed, only 50,000 people a year arrived there. In 2005, 300,000 did.
In the airport lines, Americans talk in urgent tones about the money to be made, about "Wild West" opportunities. Never mind that Guanacasteis still a region of cattle ranchers and rutted roads. The new homesteaders envision a beach, golf and spa destination equal to the Costa Rica has the advantages of an active tourism board and a reputation as peaceful and environmentally friendly. It also has the longest tradition of democracy in Latin America.
Bill Royster, the developer behind the luxurious Sueños resort south of Guanacaste on the Pacific near the town of Jacó, said that because foreigners are allowed to own land directly, rather than through the bank-trust leases required in some Mexican property deals. "No one is going to expropriate your property," he said.
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 mTHE Liberia airport, Costa Rica's new international hub, is not precisely a beacon of modern transportation.
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 Liberia, the capital of Guanacaste, is at the center of the transformation. Three years ago, when the first direct flights from the United States landed, only 50,000 people a year arrived there. In 2005, 300,000 did.
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
Costa Rica has the advantages of an active tourism board and a reputation as peaceful and environmentally friendly. It also has the longest tradition of democracy in Latin America.
Bill Royster, the developer behind the luxurious Sueños resort south of Guanacaste on the Pacific near the town of Jacó, said that because foreigners are allowed to own land directly, rather than through the bank-trust leases required in some Mexican property deals. "No one is going to expropriate your property," he said.
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 10 feet a year, though in the "gold season" — a flattering term for the dry months of December through April — most trees lose their leaves, leaving the landscape barren.
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. ake their homes underneath the broad leaves of the mango and palm trees. The foliage grows up to 10 feet a year, though in the "gold season"
By JANELLE BROWN Published: February , New York Times
●Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, arrived in Costa Rica . .
● 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.
By RALPH NICHOLSON Published: August 17th , The Beach Times
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
“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.
