In Pursuit of Fabulousness
August 13, 2004
By KAREN ROBINOVITZ
ONE sure way a destination can raise its public profile is
by piggybacking on the reputation of a better-known spot
that may, in the eyes of trend seekers, be losing some of
its heat. Thus, Columbia County, in upstate New York,
becomes known as the new Hamptons; Fort Lauderdale promotes
itself as the next South Beach; and Atlantic City puts out
the word that it is giving Las Vegas a run for its money.
Well, say hello to the Dominican Republic, "the new St.
Bart's."
Tourism is booming in the Dominican Republic, and so is
construction of second homes for people from northerly
climes. The trend doesn't appear to have been slowed by
unsettled politics in Haiti, which shares the island of
Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic; by flooding that
hit both countries this spring; or by the power cuts and
high gasoline prices that recently had Dominican citizens
demonstrating against the outgoing president. In the
seacoast gated enclaves, an insular bubble of luxury far
from the trouble spots, villas and condominiums are selling
fast.
Three years ago, Mikhail Baryshnikov visited the sprawling
Southern Greek Revival beachside vacation home of his good
friend the Dominican-born designer Oscar de la Renta in
Punta Cana on the country's east coast. Mr. de la Renta and
the singer Julio Iglesias are partners in the Punta Cana
Resort and Club there.
As Mr. de la Renta tells the story, Mr. Baryshnikov fell in
love with the place, put his house in St. Bart's on the
market and built one in the Dominican Republic. "He thought
it was a better environment for his children," Mr. de la
Renta said in a telephone interview. "And it's the best
place to really get away to rest."
"There's so much building going on," said Amelia Vicini, a
fashion editor at Town & Country magazine, who was born and
raised in the Dominican Republic. "Every time I go home, I
am amazed. The winter season is crazy, full of people -
celebrities, A-listers, everyone."
Air service is increasing, too. In 2003, the Dominican
Republic was the fastest growing Caribbean destination for
American Airlines, which now has 10 flights a day there
from Kennedy Airport, up from seven in 2001. In June,
JetBlue made the Dominican Republic its first non-United
States destination, offering daily flights for $199 each
way from Kennedy. Dave Ulmer, JetBlue's vice president for
planning, said that in addition to serving the large
Dominican community in New York, the airline will be
catering to the crowd that has made the country "a hot
leisure destination." (Recently, the airline was offering
special fares of $69 each way, before taxes, for flights
this fall between New York and Santo Domingo.)
The Dominican Republic, south of Cuba and the Bahamas, is a
direct three-and-a-half-hour flight from New York. "It's so
close," said Margarita Waxman, who lives in SoHo. When she
retired recently from a public relations job at Bulgari,
she spent $3 million on four acres of Dominican Republic
beachfront for a new villa, passing up St. Bart's, where
she has often vacationed. "I go back and forth on a monthly
basis." (Not only is St. Bart's farther away, but traveling
there requires flying to St. Maarten and then taking a
jumper flight.)
But the big attraction is the combination of classic
Caribbean assets - "the people are beautiful, the ocean is
beautiful, the weather is beautiful," Mr. Iglesias said by
telephone from the Dominican Republic - and surprisingly
favorable prices.
When a 20-unit condominium building by the beach in
Cabarete, on the north coast, went on the market in March,
prices started at $50,000 for a small one-bedroom, said
Peter Wirten, a broker with Josefina Covents & Associates
in Cabarete, and he sold every condo within a week. The
highest-priced unit, with two bedrooms and ocean views, was
$125,000.
The advantage is the same higher in the market. "It's so
much cheaper than St. Bart's, but no less lush and
tropical," said Ereka Dunn, a co-founder of D2 Publicity, a
lifestyle and fashion public relations firm in New York.
She and her family are eyeing properties priced at $400,000
to $1 million at Sea Horse Ranch, a 250-acre development on
the north coast with an equestrian center and a golf course
and a spa in the works. (Ms. Waxman's property is there,
too.) "For our price range, you can get an amazing home,
built out and furnished," Ms. Dunn said, at a third of the
price in St. Bart's.
A St. Bart's real estate agent, Alain Mora of CMI Real
Estate, said that the two places aren't even comparable.
"You can be a king in the Dominican for very little money,"
Mr. Mora said. "You need much more than that in St.
Bart's." Houses that are $400,000 to $500,000 in an
exclusive Dominican Republic development would start at
$1.1 million in St. Bart's, he said.
Until a few years ago, the Dominican Republic had a
reputation as second-rate, and affluent shoppers for second
homes largely stayed away. Then, in the early 90's,
developers, most notably the Cuban-American sugar magnates
Alfonso and Josi Fanjul, began attracting attention with
luxurious gated communities on the water. Gradually, their
marketing has paid off. The Fanjuls' Casa de Campo, on the
southeastern coast about 90 minutes from Santo Domingo, now
has 1,800 homes, with more being built at $400,000 to $10
million each.
THE resort, which has attracted celebrities like Elizabeth
Taylor and Sean Combs, though neither owns property there,
has a private yacht club, shops and restaurants, a hospital
and three golf courses, with a fourth on the way.
Lisa Kirkman, general manager of Sea Horse Ranch, said that
home sales there had gone up 50 percent in the last year
and that prices had risen more than 250 percent in a
decade. On the market there now are a four-bedroom,
4,304-square-foot house without water views for $1,050,000
and a four-bedroom, 7,409-square-foot house, also without
water views, for $3.4 million.
At Punta Cana, where Mr. Iglesias said that developers
expect to add 300 homes and a third golf course in the next
five years, the 35 homes now under construction start at
$310,000, for a three-bedroom villa away from the water and
rise to several million dollars for oceanfront properties.
(Mr. Iglesias's own home in Punta Cana, a six-acre
Balinese-style compound, presumably cost on the high side.)
So far, at least, the Dominican Republic is also avoiding
some pitfalls of places adopted by the jet set. "There's a
quaintness about it," Ms. Waxman said. "It has all the
beauty of St. Bart's, only more bohemian."
Rolando Gonzalez-Bunster, a 55-year-old business developer
from Argentina whose primary residence is in Greenwich,
Conn., said that it was easier to have a house in the
Dominican Republic than in St. Bart's. "It is more
accessible and easier to get staff." he said. He bought an
oceanfront lot in Casa de Campo five years ago and built a
16,000-square-foot house in the style of the Mexican
Pacific Coast. Such lots can cost several million dollars,
Mr. Gonzalez-Bunster said, but the cost of custom
construction is less than half what it would be in the
United States.
The Dominican Republic's half-discovered quality may not
last much longer. "Everyone is always looking for the next
place, and it is definitely the D. R.," said Shawn Prez,
national director of promotions at Bad Boy Entertainment,
Sean Combs's record label, and chief executive of Power
Moves Marketing and Promotions, a music promoter based in
New York. He plans a music conference there next year that
he hopes will attract hundreds of industry executives.
The Dominican Republic, he said, is "still sort of
untapped."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/13/realestate/13DOMI.html?ex=1093507524&ei=1&en=3ee11caf8f185908
August 13, 2004
By KAREN ROBINOVITZ
ONE sure way a destination can raise its public profile is
by piggybacking on the reputation of a better-known spot
that may, in the eyes of trend seekers, be losing some of
its heat. Thus, Columbia County, in upstate New York,
becomes known as the new Hamptons; Fort Lauderdale promotes
itself as the next South Beach; and Atlantic City puts out
the word that it is giving Las Vegas a run for its money.
Well, say hello to the Dominican Republic, "the new St.
Bart's."
Tourism is booming in the Dominican Republic, and so is
construction of second homes for people from northerly
climes. The trend doesn't appear to have been slowed by
unsettled politics in Haiti, which shares the island of
Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic; by flooding that
hit both countries this spring; or by the power cuts and
high gasoline prices that recently had Dominican citizens
demonstrating against the outgoing president. In the
seacoast gated enclaves, an insular bubble of luxury far
from the trouble spots, villas and condominiums are selling
fast.
Three years ago, Mikhail Baryshnikov visited the sprawling
Southern Greek Revival beachside vacation home of his good
friend the Dominican-born designer Oscar de la Renta in
Punta Cana on the country's east coast. Mr. de la Renta and
the singer Julio Iglesias are partners in the Punta Cana
Resort and Club there.
As Mr. de la Renta tells the story, Mr. Baryshnikov fell in
love with the place, put his house in St. Bart's on the
market and built one in the Dominican Republic. "He thought
it was a better environment for his children," Mr. de la
Renta said in a telephone interview. "And it's the best
place to really get away to rest."
"There's so much building going on," said Amelia Vicini, a
fashion editor at Town & Country magazine, who was born and
raised in the Dominican Republic. "Every time I go home, I
am amazed. The winter season is crazy, full of people -
celebrities, A-listers, everyone."
Air service is increasing, too. In 2003, the Dominican
Republic was the fastest growing Caribbean destination for
American Airlines, which now has 10 flights a day there
from Kennedy Airport, up from seven in 2001. In June,
JetBlue made the Dominican Republic its first non-United
States destination, offering daily flights for $199 each
way from Kennedy. Dave Ulmer, JetBlue's vice president for
planning, said that in addition to serving the large
Dominican community in New York, the airline will be
catering to the crowd that has made the country "a hot
leisure destination." (Recently, the airline was offering
special fares of $69 each way, before taxes, for flights
this fall between New York and Santo Domingo.)
The Dominican Republic, south of Cuba and the Bahamas, is a
direct three-and-a-half-hour flight from New York. "It's so
close," said Margarita Waxman, who lives in SoHo. When she
retired recently from a public relations job at Bulgari,
she spent $3 million on four acres of Dominican Republic
beachfront for a new villa, passing up St. Bart's, where
she has often vacationed. "I go back and forth on a monthly
basis." (Not only is St. Bart's farther away, but traveling
there requires flying to St. Maarten and then taking a
jumper flight.)
But the big attraction is the combination of classic
Caribbean assets - "the people are beautiful, the ocean is
beautiful, the weather is beautiful," Mr. Iglesias said by
telephone from the Dominican Republic - and surprisingly
favorable prices.
When a 20-unit condominium building by the beach in
Cabarete, on the north coast, went on the market in March,
prices started at $50,000 for a small one-bedroom, said
Peter Wirten, a broker with Josefina Covents & Associates
in Cabarete, and he sold every condo within a week. The
highest-priced unit, with two bedrooms and ocean views, was
$125,000.
The advantage is the same higher in the market. "It's so
much cheaper than St. Bart's, but no less lush and
tropical," said Ereka Dunn, a co-founder of D2 Publicity, a
lifestyle and fashion public relations firm in New York.
She and her family are eyeing properties priced at $400,000
to $1 million at Sea Horse Ranch, a 250-acre development on
the north coast with an equestrian center and a golf course
and a spa in the works. (Ms. Waxman's property is there,
too.) "For our price range, you can get an amazing home,
built out and furnished," Ms. Dunn said, at a third of the
price in St. Bart's.
A St. Bart's real estate agent, Alain Mora of CMI Real
Estate, said that the two places aren't even comparable.
"You can be a king in the Dominican for very little money,"
Mr. Mora said. "You need much more than that in St.
Bart's." Houses that are $400,000 to $500,000 in an
exclusive Dominican Republic development would start at
$1.1 million in St. Bart's, he said.
Until a few years ago, the Dominican Republic had a
reputation as second-rate, and affluent shoppers for second
homes largely stayed away. Then, in the early 90's,
developers, most notably the Cuban-American sugar magnates
Alfonso and Josi Fanjul, began attracting attention with
luxurious gated communities on the water. Gradually, their
marketing has paid off. The Fanjuls' Casa de Campo, on the
southeastern coast about 90 minutes from Santo Domingo, now
has 1,800 homes, with more being built at $400,000 to $10
million each.
THE resort, which has attracted celebrities like Elizabeth
Taylor and Sean Combs, though neither owns property there,
has a private yacht club, shops and restaurants, a hospital
and three golf courses, with a fourth on the way.
Lisa Kirkman, general manager of Sea Horse Ranch, said that
home sales there had gone up 50 percent in the last year
and that prices had risen more than 250 percent in a
decade. On the market there now are a four-bedroom,
4,304-square-foot house without water views for $1,050,000
and a four-bedroom, 7,409-square-foot house, also without
water views, for $3.4 million.
At Punta Cana, where Mr. Iglesias said that developers
expect to add 300 homes and a third golf course in the next
five years, the 35 homes now under construction start at
$310,000, for a three-bedroom villa away from the water and
rise to several million dollars for oceanfront properties.
(Mr. Iglesias's own home in Punta Cana, a six-acre
Balinese-style compound, presumably cost on the high side.)
So far, at least, the Dominican Republic is also avoiding
some pitfalls of places adopted by the jet set. "There's a
quaintness about it," Ms. Waxman said. "It has all the
beauty of St. Bart's, only more bohemian."
Rolando Gonzalez-Bunster, a 55-year-old business developer
from Argentina whose primary residence is in Greenwich,
Conn., said that it was easier to have a house in the
Dominican Republic than in St. Bart's. "It is more
accessible and easier to get staff." he said. He bought an
oceanfront lot in Casa de Campo five years ago and built a
16,000-square-foot house in the style of the Mexican
Pacific Coast. Such lots can cost several million dollars,
Mr. Gonzalez-Bunster said, but the cost of custom
construction is less than half what it would be in the
United States.
The Dominican Republic's half-discovered quality may not
last much longer. "Everyone is always looking for the next
place, and it is definitely the D. R.," said Shawn Prez,
national director of promotions at Bad Boy Entertainment,
Sean Combs's record label, and chief executive of Power
Moves Marketing and Promotions, a music promoter based in
New York. He plans a music conference there next year that
he hopes will attract hundreds of industry executives.
The Dominican Republic, he said, is "still sort of
untapped."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/13/realestate/13DOMI.html?ex=1093507524&ei=1&en=3ee11caf8f185908