This summer, then-tourism minister Felix Jimenez announced a billion-dollar government infrastructure investment that includes a new cruise ship marina and road upgrades for his island nation. Then, last month, his successor, Francisco Javier García, announced that private investors have begun an additional $9 billion in developments.

The announcements included especially good news for visitors headed to the hot spot of Punta Cana, a peninsula on the easternmost coast of the Dominican Republic that has long been the home of all-inclusive resorts and, more recently, several large residential developments.

An international airport already serves the area, but the new infrastructure investment will add high-speed ferry service between Punta Cana and Samaná, another popular tourism peninsula on the northeast coast. It also will build a new highway that will reduce travel time to the capital of Santo Domingo from four hours to about an hour and a half. Both projects are scheduled for completion before 2012.

Punta Cana’s main attraction is more than 20 miles of powdery white beaches. About 30 beach resorts, casinos and second-home options occupy this stretch. Several of the larger residential developments, including Roco Ki and the Punta Cana Resort & Club, offer complimentary mini-vacations for prospective buyers.

Housing prices in the upscale developments generally begin in the $400,000-$600,000 range and go upward into the millions. For buyers willing to look outside those developments and forgo resort-style amenities, prices can be much lower. Three-bedroom houses start at $250,000. One-bedroom condos begin at under $120,000, and many one- and two-bedroom condos are in the $150,000-$200,000 range.

Affordability, however, is not the Dominican Republic’s sole appeal. For second-home buyers, the nation also offers a stable democratic government, ease of doing business in a region otherwise infamous for red tape, easy air access, a vibrant community of other foreign home buyers and a top-notch portfolio of golf courses with layouts by the likes of Tom Fazio, Jack Nicklaus, Pete Dye and Nick Faldo.

A look at three Punta Cana neighborhoods:

•Cap Cana. This huge development (capcana.com) spans 29,000 acres and includes nearly 3½ miles of beach. The master plan calls for 5,000 residences, as well as hotels, golf courses, shops and restaurants, some of which are already open. There are 26 residential communities now, ranging from six to 474 units. Home sites begin in the $400,000 range, bungalows start at $480,000, and single-family houses start at $895,000.

•Punta Cana Resort & Club. The latest phase of this upscale resort (puntacana.com), built on a stretch of beach and around a golf course, is The Estate, which encompasses three enclaves of single-family houses. Lots in the Arrecife and Hacienda enclaves start at $450,000, and the gated Corales enclave commands $1.8 million and up. The Estates are being co-developed by singer Julio Iglesias and designer Oscar de la Renta, both of whom have built homes in Corales.

•Roco Ki. This new development includes more than 3 miles of beaches and coastal cliffs, atop which sits a Nick Faldo golf course. For housing, choose from several residential communities and two resort hotels: the Westin and the Fairmont. The Fairmont, expected to be ready in 2010, will offer fractional ownership in a residence club. The Westin, scheduled for next spring, already is selling options that include high-rise condos, single-family houses and bungalows. Prices range from $475,000 for a condo to $2.75 million for a beachfront home.

Source: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/secondhomes/2008-10-30-punta-cana_N.htm

Popularity: 20% [?]

A recent swarm of foreign investors to the Dominican Republic has put it truly on the map for luxury property investment. The high-end segment of its real estate market is seeing numerous new and promising developments.

The Dominican Republic suffers from a disadvantage: it adjoins Haiti. Nor is it the usual Caribbean fantasy ‘unspoiled virgin island paradise’. It has over 9 million people spread over a mountainous 48,072 sq km, an average per capita GDP of only US$3,074, and social problems which include a vast gap between rich and poor, and the highest possibility in the world of death from handguns.

Yet it does have great attractions. “There are miles and miles of beaches and nobody comes. It is still very open,” says Monique Frings.

The super-luxury developers may change all that. Thousands of acres of waterfront property have been acquired for three residential developments along the country’s northwest coast, near the border with Haiti, by a French developer, Pierre Schnebelen.

His project, Costa Bayana, will have more than 13,000 properties, including clusters of condominiums, seven-bedroom estates, plus 900 marina slips, 260 super-yacht hangars, six golf courses, nine hotels, 28 boutique inns and three cruise ship piers, all linked by high-speed hydrofoils.

Cap Cana, on the southeast coast is an enormous project focusing on high-end hotels, golf courses, and residences, sitting on more than 30,000 acres of land. The plan is to have about five high-end hotels, five golf courses, and thousands of luxury residences. It is said to be the largest private community in the Dominican Republic. Located beside the international airport, Cap Cana has everything going for it, including Trump at Cap Cana is a partnership project with The Trump Organization.

There are no restrictions on foreigners buying property.

Source: www.globalpropertyguide.com

Popularity: 31% [?]

My recent visit to the new hotel/real estate development called Cap Cana in the Dominican Republic has left me just this close to being speechless. I have been to many resorts in the world and many swanky, fancy hotels - but when I got a load of Cap Cana, and the Caleton Villas where I was staying on the property, my jaw dropped and it literally took me two days to get used to the magnificence of the place.

Not just the luxury, although there was a ton of that, but the sheer beauty and the ingenuity of the design just blew me away.

Where to begin… first, I had never been to the Dominican Republic before so my impressions were second hand ones and they lead me to believe that it was a cheap destination with all-inclusive resorts. You know the ones - the places where you buy your drinks with plastic bananas (the other impression I had of the Dominican Republic was based on what I have read about Christopher Columbus landing there as he searched for the New World).

So when I was driven from Punta Cana Airport to Cap Cana (no more than a ten minute drive) I really didn’t know what to expect.

Guests are greeted at an enormous open-air, thatched roof reception building with champagne and orange juice and a warm vanilla scented washcloth to freshen up. And it just gets better from there.

Then I was taken to my “villa” - yes, there are no rooms in the Caleton Villas hotel part of the complex - you get a villa. A villa with a huge fully stocked kitchen, a large open air, thatched roof living room and dining room area, to either side of the living room area are bungalows that contain the huge beds and fantastically modern and comfortable bathrooms (including a rain shower that was so big and luxurious and interestingly designed that it felt like you were standing under a waterfall in a tropical cove). There is yet another bedroom suite above the kitchen area. Steps from you open air living room is your private pool and hot tub.

Lest I forget - each villa comes with a butler who will make coffee, cook your meals, and see to it that your every request is fulfilled - and the villas come complete with your own golf cart for driving around the property.

Cap Cana sits on an astounding 30,000 acres of lush and beautiful eastern coastal area that has been undeveloped until now because of ownership issues and the sheer size of putting together a development like this. When Cap Cana is finished it will have several hotels, a giant marina with over a thousand slips, condos, private homes, beach clubs and some of the finest restaurants I have ever been in (eight of them are already fully operational).

If you are a golfer you will be in heaven at Cap Cana - it already has three golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus and Donald Trump is also building there (his bluff top restaurant is already in operation and it was where I had one of the best seafood meals I have ever had in my life). In all there will be six major golf courses in the complex when it is done.

Beaches - there is a beautiful small beach behind the main reception building (where another fine restaurant called the Caleton Grill is located) that is safe and clean and protected with lifeguards - the water is crystal blue and warm and kept fairly calm by a reef not far offshore. But there is another beach not far from the Caleton Villas, Juanillo Beach - and that just has to be seen to be believed - over five kilometers of gently swaying palm trees, powdery white sand, and a lovely surf. Water sports like wind surfing and snorkeling can be arranged at this beach. This beach is in the shadow of a magnificent hotel that is just opening there called Sanctuary - it has that old Spanish Colonial look about it on one end, and the other end of the hotel looks like an old Spanish fortress protecting the coast from pirates.

Sanctuary is also home to a great restaurant called Blue Marlin that boasts a chef, Wilfred Dass that used to be a chef to the Sultan of Brunei! The food at Blue Marlin is astounding - you never want to leave, you just want to keep eating and eating.

Back to the villas - the extraordinary thing about them is that even though there are many of them they are designed in such a way that you feel like you are alone in your own private little tropical haven. Privacy and relaxation are at an optimum at Cap Cana and the Caleton Villas.

Is Cap Cana high end? It is the highest of the high end. But in the case of Cap Cana you truly do get what you pay for. I was staying in villa number four - a few months ago villa number ten, which is the same size as four only it affords guests a sea view rather than a golf course view, was home to J-Lo and Mark Anthony. Tom Cruise was also a guest at the Caleton Villas and virtually no one knew he was there.

This is not like going to just any resort - when you go to Cap Cana and the Caleton Villas it will take you a couple of days just to get used to the fact that this dream like environment actually exists and you are actually living there for your stay. And the complex is so secure I never had a key. Literally, I never had a key and never locked my bungalow door once - and there is no need to lock the front doors to the villa because you can just walk around to the side and the entire kitchen and living room area is wide open. It is a great luxury to know that you can just come and go and never have to worry about remembering your room key - one of the most unique hotel experiences I have ever had.

When the gigantic Cap Cana development is finally finished it will have completely remade the eastern coast of the Dominican Republic - and now that they are open for business with the early phase of the complex, of which Caleton Villas is a part, it will be no time at all before it becomes known as the destination for a vacation in the Caribbean.

Source: www.thegate.ca

Popularity: 100% [?]

‘Way more than just a ‘Caribbean hideaway’

If you had extra cash about six years ago and the foresight to buy into Cap Cana’s massive 30,000-acre development on the eastern tip of the Dominican Republic, your real estate investment would have realized some serious appreciation. It’s still not too late. It just may cost you more. Five years ago the 60 Founders’ real estate packages sold for $800,000. Today they are valued at $2.5 million and up. This is one big Kahuna - comparing Cap Cana to a Caribbean hideaway is like comparing the QEII to a Sunfish. Still with exclusive gated enclaves like Trump’s Farallon Estates, those with the means to pay for their sybaritic pleasures will get what they want. But timing could be everything: 64 lots in Farallon selling for $3.5 to $15 million are already sold. Only four are left. A project of The Abrisa Group of the Dominican Republic, Cap Cana is not for the all-inclusive, pile-your-plate crowd. The master plan calls for a low-density residential community costing more than $1.5 billion targeting those who can afford a minimum of $480,000 for a two-bedroom condo and $1 million and up for an estate lot. When completed, Cap Cana will have three miles of beaches, five golf courses, a tennis and racquet complex, 500 hotel rooms, numerous “villages” with a total of about 5,000 residences, along with restaurants, shops, country clubs, polo grounds, casino, world-class spa and marina. Golf at Cap Cana Hugging the broken coral coastline with grit and tenacity and set against the startling blue sea, Punta Espada, the first Jack Nicklaus Signature course in the Dominican Republic, hosted its first Champion’s Tour event. “I could not take my eyes off the water. It was so cool,” said Mark Weibe after winning the three-day event. “My friends back home asked if it was really that beautiful. I told them, ‘No, it’s more beautiful.’”

Indeed waves crash high against the rocks close to tees and greens; ribbons of turquoise splash into coves while lush paspalum grass carpets the fairways. Once the $26 million Las Iguanas, the second Nicklaus course, is completed, Punta Espada will become private (membership fee, $50,000) while the third Nicklaus course, Mountain Golf Course along with Las Iguanas will be public. Cap Cana Real Estate The first phase comprising 8,680 acres, is up and running and last November Cap Cana reported sales of close to $690 million in residential sales as smart marketing quickly moved 480 villa units in the Green Village enclave. Now buyers who purchased a package (two villas) are getting their investment back by selling one of the units. A one-bedroom resale is listed for $480,000 while the package resale price is around $2 million.

New on the market are Racquet Village starting at $350,000 for a lot, and Las Iguanas Villas, 67 villas selling for $2.7 to $6.7 million. Ranging in size from 6,500 to 10,700 square feet, owners will have prime access to the Las Iguanas Golf Course, the Juanillo Beach Club, restaurants and bars. The Marina at Cap Cana Already the $96 million Cap Cana Marina is a happening place as trendsetters come to dine, shop, party and watch the action from the balconies of their townhouses as yachts come and go. When completed, the Marina will have 1000 slips able to accommodate yachts up to 250 feet. Cap Cana BeachRecently an outdoor fashion show by designer Arcadio Diaz, blew the champagne-sipping, white-linen dressed beautiful people away as stunning Venezuelan models - young ladies in impossibly high heels and thongs and barefoot, bare-chested men - strutted their stuff up and down the runway. With plenty of waterways, three small lslands and a Grand Canal, Vaporetto water taxis run shuttle services from shops to restaurants to the small islands. Of the various Marina communities, the four-bedroom Ribera Marina Town Homes are selling from $3.1 to $4.6 million including membership in the Cap Cana Yacht Club. Trump at Cap Cana Bigger-than-life photos of “The Donald” line the main drive announcing:Trump at Cap Cana. Two golf courses, Farallón and Dolinas, golf villas, lots, beach club, condo hotel, and residences with magnificent ocean views will all be contained within the gated community. What these select few will get for their money are drop-dead views 200 feet above the Caribbean. What they won’t get is beachfront property (there is a private beach club). But then, looking down on everything and everybody does have its price.

Other Cap Cana projects on tap Among other projects on the horizon are The Golden Bear Lodge; Racquet Village where 100 lots are selling form $480,000-$680,000; Mountain Golf Course and Village; Soto Grande, an 88-room boutique hotel and 352 high end beachfront units; and the Altabella Fishing Lodge. Ritz-Carlton has two projects on the drawing board: a 220-room resort with a 16,000 square-foot spa and beach club and 194-privately-owned beachfront and golf residences. Las Canas, a village with shops, the Heritage School and other public buildings is a work in progress. Sanctuary Cap Cana Golf & Spa The 176-suite Sanctuary condo hotel and Mandara spa blend elements of the Spanish colonial era, the Caribbean and modern minimalist architecture.

A big plus is the glorious white sand beach shaded by coconut palms and white canvas open “tents” and set up with uge cushioned double chaises, hammocks and lounges. Nightly rates are $350 to $7,000. In addition to the hotel, visitors can rent one of the 16 three-and four bedroom Caleton Villas with soaring thatched roofs and views of the sea and Punta Espada golf course. Nightly rates are from $1,800.

Source: www.golfcourserealty.com

Popularity: 83% [?]