If you follow the national newspapers in The Dominican Republic, you can see the general state of tourism and other growth related infrastructure projects in the country.
This June 12th Dominican Today posted – Tourist arrivals climb "historic' 6.7% in the first 5 months of 2017. 2.7 million visitors entered the country at the various airports or 169,450 more than the same period in 2016.
This is continued great news for our beloved island nation of Dominican Republic.
Source: Dominican Today
As luck would have it, last week the LUPERON area was in the process of upgrading the Maimon coastal highway. We viewed the process in action ourselves. This is an upgrade of the road from Luperon to Cambiaso which is the small local village to the east of LOE. They are adding new earth and caliche (gravel). This is an essential repair of the roads due to the severe rain that occurred last fall. The complete upgrade to asphalt is scheduled to be started in the next 8 months. This is very good news for our development as well as the area.
Last week, May 10th, we officially signed contracts with our engineer, architect and general contractor. This is a very important step in the process for our development. We have spent the better part of a year developing the property to suit our new vision with the same team that is now officially moving us towards our permits. The architect and engineering firm along with the LOE team will work over the next few months to complete the various drawings and details required for the permit drawing submittal process. Electrical, water system, roads, treatment plant, soil sample testing, environment study will all be completed in various stages for the permit process.
We are on our way....
Voted one of the top affordable luxury destinations in the Caribbean, Puerto Plata & Luperon offer a Caribbean lifestyle that's achievable while meeting all your needs.
In addition to the spectacular beaches of the Dominican Republic's north coast or the adventure & activities along the lively Malecón boardwalk, there's also the magnificent colonial architecture of the historic district. In short, Puerto Plata's features include plenty of activities for all, and luxury for a reasonable price.
But tourists aren’t the only ones taking notice of this island paradise, Americans interested in acquiring luxury real estate for primary, holiday, or retirement homes are gathering in the Dominican for its tax advantages and the high quality of life offered in an ideal setting.
The stability of the government and a steady economy that has been growing in the past years have transformed the Dominican Republic into the perfect place to visit, and also for expats or looking for a safe and affordable option in the Caribbean. A booming luxury home market and an updated infrastructure serve as examples of the long progression the Dominican Republic has made through its centuries-old history.
Ocean views
As we are all aware, The Dominican Republic does not generate enough power to support 100% on demand access to that power for its Island businesses and residences. The country has what they call rolling brown outs. The majority of all power still uses fossil fuels which is costly and dirty. They are generating a small amount of wind energy on the south cost at this time, and will continue to grow this as outside funding increases. With this in mind, we are promoting and designating our resort community as Energy Neutral. This means that we are generating as much power as we use.
The first reason for this is essentially to have access to consistent power as we need it.
The second is ecologically minded resorts need to walk the walk. Third is that we have an abundance of solar and wind power available to us in our front yard and overhead.
Each of the homes that have been developed all have optional solar panels applications, hot water panel systems, water collection and reserve backup generators built into the homes. These are all options for each home owner but offer great consistency and return on investment in short order.
As for the development itself. Each building and structure will use solar power, water collection and have access to back up power generation on site. We are also in the early stages of R&D on a small low impact wind farm for the top section of the development in a designated "green space" area that is currently the equestrian center. This would allow us to be 100% independent from the power provider while still having access to multiple forms of backup power on site. We are blessed with consistent on-shore breezes that will make a low impact wind farm a big benefit without the need for tall tower-like industrial turbines.
This simple idea of energy neutral gives us longevity, consistency and conservation for our beautiful resort community. We hope you all agree.
Our exceptional gated community of Luperon Ocean Estates, designed by the award-winning architect Eric Urbahn was conceived and developed with a master plan that respects the abundance of natural ocean views, beach access and the natural onshore trade winds, which all preserve the natural beauty of our environment with over 250,000 M2 of terrain.
In addition to our residential areas, we have designed and currently developing:
· Club House & Restaurant
· Fresh Food Market
· Whale watch tower
· Resort-style club pool & Jacuzzi
· Tennis true courts, Tennis pro shop + Lounge
· Equestrian center
· Spa/Gym
· Yoga Sala
Whether you plan to live in the resort home full-time, or visit regularly, you’ll have lots of time to take advantage of these Resort Community inspired luxury amenities & services.
Luperon Ocean Estates welcomes all guests to feel at home, for true a relaxing and comfortable experience.
General Development Plan - Amenities
At Luperon Ocean Estates we offer property management in line with the needs of the owner, whether you live on site or visit occasionally, we maintain your home and villa rental.
Our administration office will be located on property, offering full service villa management, maintenance staff and property rental services as well as on call 24/7 concierge services to enhance the daily experience of our guests & residents.
Let our Concierge team help arrange:
We value your trust in our property management and take very seriously our committed level of excellence in supervising and managing your villa in the most professional and personal way.
Our services will help you save time so that you will be able to enjoy & experience the real Caribbean lifestyle.
Happy holidays to all of you from the team at Luperon Ocean Estates. Wishing all of you great success and happiness in the coming year.
Some of the best news this year out of the Dominican Republic is the economy. Despite major flood damage very recently their economy grew by 6.5%.
The central bank in December said that Dominican Republic's economy activity and domestic demand "evolve favorably" and forecasts expect the economy to grow as high as 6.5%, the highest in the region. It said the economy will grow despite the effects of recent floods that have caused widespread damages to agriculture and infrastructure mostly in the north region.
"Credit to the private sector continues to expand at close to 12.0% in November and close the year with an expansion above the Nominal estimated product, " the Central Bank Said on its website.
So, how does all this affect our development. Positive economic growth fuels better infrastructure for our region. This also affects prices for land and homes as rising economies typically are parallel with rising land and home prices.
Happy New Year to all.
Year end update on the Luperon Ocean Estates infrastructure. While there has been a lot of behind the scenes work on the development progressing along, we are now preparing to get our Engineering drawings completed, commence with the environmental study and put a schedule together for all to follow.
In this process of essentially starting over, there are a large number to challenges and planning documents and procedures to put in place. Once we have a set of engineering drawings completed, which is typically 2.5 to 3 months we will have what we need to proceed with permit submittal and a number of other tests and procedures.
Our engineering drawing are essentially our construction documentation set. These documents sort out the details of the streets, the sewers, the water and power and cable lines. They show and detail the water treatment center and the excavation and land moving that needs to take place during the construction process.
To be very clear. All aspects of the previous development were scrutinized, most of it altered for the better. But all of this was and is now designed. Previously it was not. My apology for the delays between the last infrastructure blog post and now. But we are working on all fronts at the same time.
In the meantime the DR has had some of the most intensive weather and rain storms in recent history. Roads and bridges were washed away, people have died as a result. We mention this so that you also understand some of the physical and weather challenges we face ahead of us when we start construction. As we move into the holiday part of the year, most of our development efforts will be on engineering and completing the lot owners CCR's document for each lot owner by early January. The CCR's for each development are basically the clarifications and restrictions under which each lot owner must operate within. It's a guide for all aspects of the development from restrictions on home sizes based on lot sizes, lines of site, materials, rentals, facilities and much more. Look for our next blog before the end of the year on this subject.
Happy holidays, from all of us at Luperon Ocean Estates.
You might not know this but one of the premier luxury boutique resorts opened its doors on the North coast of DR earlier this year at Playa Grande. The Amanera Resort is the newest in the collection of truly 5 star luxury resorts from the Aman Hotel Group.
They are also now the owners of Playa Grande golf course which was designed by the celebrated architect Robert Trent Jones Sr and considered the pebble beach of the Caribbean. It's currently ranked as 21 in the list of top golf courses.
So why is all this important to Luperon Ocean Estates? The entry of this level of luxury in the hotel and golf industry brings with it another positive level of affluent consumer and travelers that will now be arriving to the North Coast of DR. This, in combination with the Carnival cruise line port and other state sponsored infrastructure projects means our coastal area is on the rise and will continue for a long time to come.
Playa Grande Golf Course - Image by Aman.com