Costa Rica Gaviota del Sol site plan

Rendering of the proposed Revolution Places resort in northwestern Costa Rica as viewed through the village.

For many travelers Costa Rica has become a destination for eco-tourism — that is, vacations intended to celebrate and preserve the natural environment. And over the years, travelers on such trips have come to expect mostly ascetic accommodations after long days of surfing or hiking, typically not much more than a decent bed in a bug-free room with a semiprivate bathroom.

But the options are expanding for those with more discriminating tastes. Breaking ground next summer is Cacique, Costa Rica, an $800 million, 650-acre luxury resort in Guanacaste, on the Pacific Coast of the northern part of the country.

The development will be the first for Revolution Places, a venture created by Stephen M. Case, the co-founder of America Online. And it will have an array of partners including the Agassi/Graf Tennis and Fitness Center, designed by Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf; a golf course by Tom Doak, whose designs are known for naturalist landscaping; 120 coastal hotel villas built by One&Only Resorts; and an additional 120 rooms and 60 villas by Miraval in Tucson. Environmental oversight will come from Philippe Cousteau Jr., grandson of Jacques Cousteau.

“Every one of the partners is putting something important into this,” said Philippe Bourguignon, the vice chairman of the Revolution Places Group, who once served as the chairman of Club Med and EuroDisney. “The good news is, everyone is smart,” he said. “The bad news is, everyone has a strong opinion.”

Having myriad partners is not the only challenge and opportunity for the developer. Cacique (pronounced ka-SEE-kay) will be the first resort to break ground since President Óscar Arias declared Costa Rica a carbon-neutral country in June; the goal is for the country to emit no net greenhouse gases by 2021.

“We are working closely with the government to set a standard for other developments,” Mr. Bourguignon said. “There are a lot of people looking at land and a number of resorts in the planning phase,” including developments by Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Rosewood Hotels and Resorts and Regent Hotels and Resorts. All are scheduled to open in 2009 or later.

Scott D. Berman, a principal in the hospitality and leisure consulting group of PricewaterhouseCoopers, noted that dozens of other projects are in the works, many of them upscale. He called Costa Rica’s Guanacaste province — with its beaches, wildlife reserves and volcanoes — “the next hot destination.” He added that “rarely have you heard luxury and eco-tourism in the same breath.”

“You will have luxury accommodations while traveling through one of the most magnificent rainforests in the world,” said Mr. Berman, who has been working in Costa Rica for 20 years. “It’s the closest you can get to a safari experience in the Americas.”

To help maintain that safari experience and to meet the government’s carbon-neutral challenge, Revolution Places decided to considerably reduce the development footprint on the site, which juts out into the Pacific Ocean and had once been a cattle ranch. The area was zoned 10 years ago for seven hotels with up to 2,000 rooms; Cacique will cover about 20 percent of the landscape.

The goal is to lower energy consumption by 40 percent from that of a typical project of its size. At the same time, the developer has a reforestation and revegetation project to repair damage done to parts of the site during its previous use as a cattle ranch. The work will include planting a million trees along the Tempisque River. Revolution Places also intends to work with a local government to improve the handling of solid waste, and to start shared transportation systems for guests, residents and employees to minimize traffic and vehicle emissions.

“We have a commitment to being a responsible citizen,” said Mr. Cousteau, who in 2000 was a co-founder of EarthEcho International, a nonprofit environmental organization based in Washington. “What we do in terms of social conservation is just as important as environmental conservation.”

Mr. Cousteau, who is also a correspondent for “Animal Planet” on the Discovery Channel, says Revolution Places intends to create a fund to help local business owners and crafts makers and to donate computers to schools in the region.

“People are looking for something other than sitting on a beach somewhere,” Mr. Cousteau said, “and they want to stay somewhere that’s not exploiting the people and the area.”

Of course, doing good does not preclude one from living well. At the very tip of the peninsula will be the 120 villas developed by One&Only, a five-year-old ultraluxury brand by Kerzner International. The site will be the eighth One&Only project; its developments are currently found in places from Dubai to the African island nation of Mauritius to San José del Cabo, Mexico. There are plans to expand further in Africa, to Zanzibar and to Cape Town, South Africa.

With access to the Pacific Ocean, the typical villa will have 800 square feet of space and include a 300-square-foot deck and a private pool. Rents start at more than $1,000 a night.

Paul Jones, the president of One&Only Resorts, said of the terrain: “There are some pretty steep contours, which makes for a difficult planning process, but the difficulty brings with it a lot of drama. As you enter, you will arrive into the high point, about 85 meters above sea level, and in that building we will have a restaurant and a bar that projects out into the forest with commanding views through the trees out onto the ocean.”

In addition to offering spa and fitness amenities, Mr. Jones said, “we believe in infusing life and energy into our properties, so there will be opportunity for activity on the site day and night.”

“If someone wants to switch off and do nothing that is certainly possible,” he added. “But we believe in active fun.”

On the more inland side of the peninsula will be Miraval’s portion of the project, with 120 hotel rooms and 60 villas. Its mission is more geared toward the health and wellness traveler. John Vanderslice, the chief executive of Miraval, said his resort would offer 150 different programs, like yoga and meditation, fitness and conditioning and arts and crafts. “This is for the luxury traveler who is seeking an experiential vacation,” he said.

In the middle of the peninsula, meanwhile, will be a small village of mixed-use buildings, with 100,000 square feet of retail space and 55 residential units above the shops, an amphitheater and other public spaces, open to Cacique visitors and residents (for-sale lots are also part of the development), as well as local residents.

“There are a lot of walled-off resorts in the world,” Mr. Case said. “There is a better way. What we’re doing here is taking the best property in the hottest market, and designing a resort community that integrates with the neighboring communities in an environmentally sustainable way. That is the future standard of luxury resorts.”

Friday, February 09, 2007

Guanacaste to Get Big Boost in Hotel Rooms

By Ralph Nicholson

Nine Hotel Projects And Up to 3500 Rooms Planned

Guanacaste’s northern Pacific coast will have an additional 3500 high-end hotel rooms within the next three years, according to at least nine major hotel and resort projects either under way, or being planned.

Hotel chains like Hyatt Hotels and Resorts, Regent International Hotels, Rosewood Hotels and Resorts, JW Marriott, Aman Resorts International, the Ritz Carlton, One and Only Resorts and the Hilton Hotels Corporation have all either broken ground, are in the permitting stage, or are negotiating build hotels from Hacienda Pinilla, south of Tamarindo, to Peninsula Papagayo.

The hotels and resorts represent a combined investment of nearly one billion dollars in a strech of Costa Rica’s coastline less than 60 kilometers (about 38 miles) long.

Most are planning up-market, five-star, hotels and resorts, which would relieve the region’s critical room shortage and create anywhere between 7000 and 13,000 jobs.

“There is an extraordinary amount of jockeying for position right at the moment,” said one hotel insider this week. “And the industry loves it because of the severe shortage of hotel rooms during the high season.”

A survey last year by the Cámara Nacional de Turismo (CANATUR) of 60 small, medium-sized and large hotels right across the country showed about 45 per cent of requests for rooms were being turned down during the high season.

In fact, the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT) estimates they need about 49,000 rooms to accommodate all the tourists coming to Costa Rica.

“….which means there must be 18,192 new rooms to be distributed amongst the existing tourist base and the construction of new accommodations,” it found in its latest report.

And with most hotels in Guanacaste reporting occupancies in the past three months running between 90 and 95 per cent, the trend is being felt here.

In fact, Sildelau Salcedo, General Manager of the Paradisus Playa Conchal Resort in Brasilito, Guanacaste, estimated they rejected as much as three per cent of their business. He says they lost about $2.2 million in two years.

“We found we were rejecting a lot of business because in the high season we simply did not have the rooms to give customers,” he said this week.

Last month, and a little ahead of schedule, the hotel opened another 102 rooms, bringing capacity to 406 rooms. The rooms, an additional, 120-seat restaurant, a new pool and a conference center represented a total investment of nearly $20 million.

Desarrollos Hoteleros Guanacaste, S.A, the parent company of the Playa Conchal resort and golf course development, says they will also add a second hotel, probably beginning sometime this year. It will include 200 to 250 rooms and could be operational within 30 months.

“In fact our master plan calls for two more big hotels, and one medium-size or boutique hotel,” said Ana Saborío, Chief Executive Officer of DHG.

“We have been working on permits, designs and how we might structure a deal for some time,” she said. “We have had conversations with several hotel groups, but these kind of negotiations take time. I can’t say exactly when we will start building.”

The ICT says there are 6569 rooms in 299 hotels in northern Guanacaste and 1414 rooms in 130 hotels towards the south. It counts 4571 rooms in 294 hotels on the Central Pacific.

For its part, the Guanacaste Chamber of Tourism believes it needs, as a matter of urgency, more than 1000 additional rooms. If that is the case, then it is about to get more than it bargained for.

Grupo Roble, the El Salvador-based conglomerate, broke ground late last year and has now finished moving 50,000 cubic meters of dirt around on the five hectares of land upon which will be built a JW Marriott hotel. Foundations for the 310-room resort, inside the Hacienda Pinilla complex, will begin this month.

Originally, the developers had planned a first phase of 180 rooms, but quickly announced 250 rooms. Now they are building 310.

“They decided to build everything all at the same time,” said Mauricio Estrada, General Manager of Hacienda Pinilla this week.

“Rooms are a big problem in the area and I guess the developers see the potential for hotel rooms,” he added. “They have a very aggressive construction plan. They want to be open in 2008.”

It is not just hotel rooms. Most developments are now incorporating condominiums and villas, which the developers then manage. The Grupo Roble project is no different – it will include 200 condominiums.

Developers behind the giant Hyatt Hotel and Resort to be built in Brasilito are also looking to break ground on their $300 million project early this year.

Phase one will include all 320 hotel rooms of what will be known as the Hyatt Regency Azulera Resort and Spa, as well as the Greg Norman-designed, 18-hole, golf course.

Representatives of what is known as the Rosewood Project will be in Guanacaste later this month, for what is now believed to be a completed deal.

The deal has been on the table for more than six years, but is now understood to be signed, for 60-hectares (150 acres) of property on Playa Guachipelin, owned by Roger Hall, of Hallmark Properties, a developer out of California.

Certainly, a master plan of the area, cost analyses, and construction schedules are ready and waiting for the 80-room hotel, which will include 12 deluxe suites and one presidential suite. The project was to have been two phases, but will now go ahead as one, and include an additional 60 villas of two, three and four bedrooms. There will be a further 20 estate lots plus a spa and a fitness center.

Both Aman Resorts International and One and Only Resorts are understood to be in negotiations with Revolution LLC to site a resort on 216 hectares (about 535 acres) of land in Playa Hermosa.
Steve Case, Chairman of Exclusive Resorts, Co-Founder of America Online, Director of Case Foundation and owner and Chairman of Revolution LLC bought the land for a reported $42 million in 2005.

But one of the most ambitious projects is that by the RIU Hotel Chain, a 53-year-old Spanish chain, which has bought 240 hectares (about 600 acres) fronting Matapalo in northern Guanacaste.

RIU paid an estimated $26 million for the land, and have begun clearing.

Sources close to the deal say the group will build three hotels, with a total of up to 2000 rooms. They want to begin building this year.

Late last year, two Minnesota developers announced they are to build a $120 million, 150-room luxury hotel on Guanacaste’s Papagayo Peninsula.

Richard Pakonen and Blaine Kirchert are to team up with Regent International Hotels and the respected Costa Rican architect, Ronald Zurcher, to build and manage what will be known as the Regent Punta de Papagayo. It will include the hotel, 86 condominiums, 20 luxury estates and a giant spa. The complex will rest on some of the last remaining concession land within the Papagayo tourism project known as Polo Turístico.

Costa Rica Real Estate - Two Luxury Resorts
Planned on Pacific Coast
By Katherine Stanley -- Times Staff

Come 2008, Costa Rica will be home to two new luxury resorts, hundreds of additional hotel rooms, and thousands of new jobs, if projects announced this month by two international hotel chains go as planned.

The development landscape of Guanacaste changed significantly last week when Hyatt Hotels and Resorts announced plans to build a 557-acre resort – complete with a 214-room, 100-condominium hotel, an 18-hole golf course designed by Greg Norman and more than 1,000 residential units – in the northwestern province. The first phase of construction, expected to last two years and require an investment of $100 million, will begin in July; the entire project is expected to be completed in five to seven years.

Meanwhile, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide and Costa Rican development firm Grupo Genesis announced plans this week to build a new hotel, St. Regis Resort, on the Central Pacific coast. The resort will feature 133 rooms, a dramatic cliff-top presidential suite, a spa and residences, according to a statement from Starwood Hotels.

News of the two developments came just days after President Oscar Arias and Tourism Minister Carlos Benavides called for renewed nationwide efforts to strengthen Costa Rica’s tourism industry and make the country an attractive option for foreign investment (TT, May 19). When Arias arrived at the Hotel Real Intercontinental May 11 for the swanky Hyatt launch event, he said the international company’s impending arrival makes it still more important for the government to improve infrastructure in Guanacaste and throughout the country.

“This fills us with happiness on the one hand and concerns on the other,” Arias said as he arrived at the Intercontinental. He added that the Hyatt’s Azulera will heighten the need for significant attention to the Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia, Guanacaste’s capital.

Large-Scale Intimate Lodging

An Artist’s Rendering of the Hyatt Regency Azulera Resort & Spa planned in the northwestern province of Guanacaste.Courtesy of Azulera

Project leaders say construction of the Hyatt Regency Azulera Resort & Spa – between Playas Tamarindo and Flamingo, 200 miles northwest of San José and 40 miles southwest of the international airport in Liberia – will be conducted with the environment, as well as nearby town of Brasilito, in mind.

“We’re developing with great sensitivity,” said Ronald Zürcher, head of Zürcher Arquitectos de Costa Rica, which will execute the designs created by U.S.-based Michael Graves & Associates. According to Patrick Burke of Michael Graves, the design concept is based on allowing guests to experience nature.

“We didn’t try to overstyle the architecture,” he said, adding that the designs focus on local materials. “It’s a real, authentic paradise.”

The resort will offer guests and residents a full-service spa, a gym, beach access, a salt-water pool next to the ocean, and a variety of freshwater pools, as well as a banquet hall, conference rooms and gardens. One of the many bars and dining areas throughout the resort will be located at the highest point of the property, looking out over the ocean and Isla Loros, just offshore, over a series of infinity pools.

Despite the size and scope of the project, Burke said the architects have worked to create “intimate spaces” that “blend the notion of indoors and outdoors.

“The intent is to allow you to feel like you’re living outdoors… that’s exciting for someone coming from Minnesota,” he said.

With this in mind, approximately 20% of the property will be developed; the rooms will be scattered throughout, each with its own private terrace, and each group of rooms with its own patio, gardens and pool.

Buildings will be low-rise, with the goal that the greenery will dominate and only the roofs will be visible, Burke said.

Several of the resort’s services, including the beach, spa and restaurants, will be open to the public, along with a facility designed “to work for both the town (of Brasilito) and the resort,” according to Burke: a “Village Market” of retail and office space. This space, on the side of the resort closest to Brasilito, will house a grocery store, pharmacy and laundromat, along with office space and a medical center – something Brasilito lacks, Burke said.

“This isn’t a project that will be behind walls,” added Zürcher, who estimated the resort will create 2,000-2,500 jobs during construction. “It will be integrated into the community.”

Norman, the 20-time U.S. PGA winner, will design the ocean-view, par-32 golf course, complete with driving range, putting green, club and bar. More than 200 golf-course villas will flank the course.

The Chicago-based Global Hyatt Corporation, which encompasses the Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Grand Hyatt and Park Hyatt brands, has 215 hotels and resorts with more than 90,000 rooms in 44 countries, according to www.hyatt.com.

New Jersey-based Global Financial

Agassi's Latest Match Is With AOL Co-Founder

By Chris Kirkham
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 26, 2006; Page D01

Less than a month after a final appearance at the U.S. Open, tennis superstar Andre Agassi is joining America Online co-founder Steve Case in developing a worldwide string of multimillion-dollar resort homes.

Agassi and tennis-star wife Steffi Graf will partner with Case's Exclusive Resorts to develop luxury tennis courts and additional resort sites that will add to the company's 38 worldwide locations.

Andre Agassi, right, was an Exclusive Resorts member when Steve Case heard about his idea. (By Zack Seckler -- Exclusive Resorts Via Associated Press)

The venture marks the second pairing recently of star power and local entrepreneurs, following Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder's deal last month with actor Tom Cruise.

The tennis couple and their two children have been Exclusive Resorts members for more than a year and on previous trips thought fitness and tennis training programs would add to the experience.

Case invested in Exclusive Resorts in 2003. The company operates luxury vacation homes available for up to 45 days annually to members who pay a one-time fee of as much as $425,000 and additional annual dues of up to $27,500.

Agassi, now consulting with his wife on the tennis and fitness programs and operating as Agassi Graf Development LLC, had already switched from sports to public-relations terms in discussing the venture.

"I spent a lot of my time working to affect people for a few hours on the tennis court," Agassi said as he was waiting in Newark Liberty International Airport to board a flight back to his home in Las Vegas. "It's the real lifestyle impact that's up my alley now."

The first tennis courts will be built at a resort in Peninsula Papagayo, Costa Rica, later this year. The company has not announced the next locations.

Case, like anyone else who follows tennis, had heard about Agassi's impending retirement. He got word from Brent Handler, one of his partners at Exclusive Resorts, that Agassi and his business partner Perry Rogers were toying with the idea of doing more luxury resort real estate work.

So Case invited Agassi to Washington in June, they went to dinner at Equinox, and the two hit it off. They spent the next few months working out the details of the plan, which will involve a partnership on both new resort locations and development of the tennis courts.

Since then, Case attended one of Agassi's matches at the U.S. Open this year.

"I think he has the opportunity to emerge as a lifestyle brand, much as Greg Norman was a great golfer who's now established himself in a lot of business ventures," said Case, the chairman of Exclusive Resorts, based in the District and Denver. "I'm not diminishing what he's done in tennis, but I think he's got a long and illustrious future ahead of him."

Agassi will officially be a senior adviser to Exclusive Resorts, meaning he won't be required to attend board meetings, Case said. The company did not disclose any financial terms, including any money Agassi is bringing to the table or how much he is being paid.

Case said he has been impressed by Agassi's business acumen. He founded the Pure nightclub, part of Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and recently announced another luxury hotel partnership called the Fairmont Tamarack in Idaho.

For the rest of the year, Agassi plans to see more of the Exclusive chain for himself, with trips planned to Los Cabos in Baja California and Whistler in the Canadian Rockies.

"Since my career ended, I've just been able to experience this more now," Agassi said. "I've got a lot of stops to make."