President Leonel Fernandez has sent a contract to the Senate whereby the government would sell the Sans Souci area and its environs to a private company for the development of a sea-fronting real estate project. The company, Constructora Inversiones Turisticas Sans Souci, represented by Lisandro Macarulla, was handpicked by the government for the private development. El Dia newspaper reports that the money will be paid in the form of investments that the company is to build in the area. The newspaper says that the company would be responsible for the construction of a building for the Navy, the dredging and clean up of the port area, construction of 10,000 square meters of plazas and commercial areas and the expansion and repair of the breakwater at the entrance to the port. It also includes the construction of a new Sans Souci Avenue, a floating bridge, and the Sans Souci beach club, as well as provision of parking areas. El Dia says that the company will be investing US$37 million. The Fernandez government signed the contract on 3 June 2005.
The mega-project includes the construction of hotels, convention centers, real estate projects, a 500-yacht sports marina, as well as parks and walkways. As announced by Jorge Suncar, public relations director for the project, 100 12-storey residential buildings with a total of 1,000 apartments will make up the real estate portion of the revitalization and expansion of the Santo Domingo port project, which will also include a 200-room business hotel. The residential part would be built along Ave. Espana, and the hotel will be on the eastern side, with access to the beach at Sans Souci. The beach will be dredged and conditioned for use. The project will be developed in several phases, the first being directed to the improvement of the port. The second phase will be to renegotiate with cruise liners to attract tourism by sea to Santo Domingo, whereas the real estate development will be done later, in about 24 months. Total investment in the project is estimated at US$400 million.