Punta Cana : Features
So Hot Right Now
By Zena Olijnyk
Nov 1, 2007

Just like that, the Dominican Republic—long the refuge of broke Spring Breakers and budget family trips—has become the Caribbean’s top tourist destination. Don’t believe it? Good, says Zena Olijnyk. The more privacy for Shakira, Donald Trump and legions of other moneyed new residents

The Dominican Republic has all the ingredients for the idyllic Caribbean vacation: expansive, white-sand beaches; lush, unspoiled rainforests; and a rich history of European settlement stretching back to the 15th Century, when Christopher Columbus landed on the shores of modern-day Haiti and declared the island of Hispaniola (or Little Spain, today shared by Haiti and the Dominican to the east) “the most beautiful in the world.”   

But the Dominican Republic also carries a lot of unwanted baggage—expired images difficult to shake from two decades’ worth of budget holidays that followed the penny-pinching script: wash down a flavourless rice-based meal with a syrupy Cuba Libré and go tan.

“When I first started telling people about Casa de Campo, back in the 1980s, people would say, ‘Casa de what?’” says Gail Flannigan, who operates a boutique marketing firm for upscale celebrity and executive-class property, with offices in New York City and Southern California. She’s referring to the sumptuous vacation enclave that quickly got a leg up on attracting high-end vacationers, thanks to the Teeth of the Dog Golf Course at nearby La Romana, ranked by Golf Magazine as the number one course in the Caribbean and 34th in the world.

Before Casa de Campo, says Flannigan, “the D.R. was known mainly as the place to go for all-inclusive deals with bad buffet food and drinks served out of plastic glasses.”

Today, things couldn’t be more different.

Fuelled by several new high-end hotel and vacation real estate developments that take advantage of property values 30 per cent lower than in more exclusive parts of the Caribbean, the country that shares an island with the impoverished nation of Haiti (the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere) is actually becoming the hottest luxury tourist destination in the Caribbean.

“The Dominican Republic has been moving from a K-Mart experience to one that’s closer to Neiman-Marcus,” says U.S. ex-pat and resident real estate expert John Schroder, referring to the ritzy American fashion department store.

Murray Koffler, founder of the Shoppers Drug Mart chain, and among the first to discover the pleasures of Casa de Campo when he bought vacation property there 20 years ago, has watched this transition take place.

“We’ve been vacationing in the D.R. for many years, and we see more and more people coming here all the time,” he says, adding that five-star hotels like the Four Seasons are taking root. In August, the Central Romana group announced it would be constructing the 200-room Four Seasons Casa de Campo, where “super suites” will run more than US$10,000 a night and boast five rooms, a private swimming pool, gym and spa. It’s set to open in 2009.

The Four Seasons is just one of many luxury brands coming to the D.R. Schroder, a former Wall Street broker and banker who now runs a business out of Santo Domingo helping North Americans and others complete land transactions in the Caribbean, points to Cap Cana, the biggest tourism real estate project now under way in the region. Plans for the property, located on the island’s eastern shores, include construction of 5,000 residential units, at least four luxury hotels, five golf courses (three designed by golf legend Jack Nicklaus) and a marina that will accommodate 1,000 yachts of various sizes. The first Cap Cana hotel—the 176-suite Altabella—will open in January.

But long before Four Seasons and Cap Cana, there was Canadian Fred Elliott, who, along with his son, Derek, envisioned the D.R. as far more than a bread-and-butter package-tour destination.

“There’s been an amazing amount of tourism growth in the Dominican Republic, most of it at the luxury end,” says Derek, originally from Carlisle, Ontario but now living in the Dominican Republic full-time. While the family-owned Elliott Group has held land here since the late 1980s, it started making its mark on the country’s tourism scene in 2002. That’s when the firm began operating the Sun Village Resort & Spa Cofresi, located 25 kilometres west of the airport at Puerto Plata, on the island’s north shore.

“I knew sooner or later the boom would hit here,” says Fred Elliott, chairman of the company and a player in the financial services industry until he got interested in real estate development in 1987.

His son calls Sun Village a “solid North American four-star,” all-inclusive resort, with 300 rooms, four luxury villas, seven swimming pools, a 17,000-square foot health and beauty spa, and a boffo location overlooking some of the most magnificent beaches on the island. It has also benefited from the recent construction next door of Ocean World Adventure Park—part of a US$100-million development by German investor Ludwig Meister that includes a casino and the only full-service marina on the country’s north coast.

It is this kind of critical mass of awareness, followed by zealous investment into an undervalued play, that has propelled the country to the position of Caribbean’s top tourist destination.

In 2006, more than 3.9 million tourists visited the Dominican Republic, up 7.4 per cent compared to 2005, and far ahead of Cuba (2.2 million) and Mexico’s Cozumel and Cancún (1.85 million). In 2005, almost US$2 billion, or seven per cent of the country’s gross domestic product, came from tourism, the most of any Caribbean country. Derek Elliott predicts the number of tourists visiting the D.R. each year will grow to 10 million within a decade, helped by the aging North American baby boomer generation.

After having successfully tapped into the higher end of the Dominican Republic’s all-inclusive market, with rates in the high season starting at about US$150 per person per day, Elliott Group is taking it to a more luxurious level.

In May, the company announced a partnership with men’s lifestyle magazine Maxim to create Maxim Bungalows. “We think it’s an incredible opportunity to team our real estate expertise with the Maxim lifestyle brand to offer to travellers the best when it comes to vacations,” says Derek. 

The 348 Maxim Bungalows units are set to open at two locations: next month in Cofresi, next to the Sun Village resort, and next March in Juan Dolio, 20 km from the Santo Domingo airport on the south coast. Derek says the Maxim Bungalows will start at US$400 a night for a studio and US$875 for a two-bedroom grand bungalow. While the villas won’t be all-inclusive, he says the resorts will feature restaurants that provide “world-class dining.”

Maxim Bungalows, to be opened in three phases, are also for sale, ranging from 700-square foot studios—which sold for about US$360,000 each when the 108 units of Phase One was released last year—to the 2,400-square foot grand bungalows that went for more than US$1 million.

A cheaper way to get a piece of the Caribbean is through fractional (one-thirteenth) ownership, or the use of the unit for four weeks a year. Single fractions went for as little as $28,000 in Phase One—a release that sold out in eight days—but prices for the later phases are spiking as demand grows. Owners can also rent out the units when not in use and profit from any appreciation upon selling. Derek points out that Phase One grand bungalows that sold originally for US$1 million “have appreciated in value by 25 per cent so far.”

Along with the high-profile Maxim deal, Derek has hatched another marketing idea for his adopted home sure to be picked up by celebrity talk shows and written up in Hollywood gossip rags in the near future—the creation of the Dominican International Film Festival. Now in its third year and held at Cofresi each November, the festival helps fill rooms during the quieter shoulder season.

The festival isn’t Elliott’s only foray into the entertainment business. Through his Elliott Motion Pictures division, he has partnered with Media 8 Entertainment—producer of acclaimed films such as The Upside of Anger (2005) and Monster (2003)—to make Man About Town, with Ben Affleck, and Lovewrecked, which premiered earlier this year on Family Channel. Starring Amanda Bynes, Lovewrecked is a teen romantic comedy, filmed at (where else?) Sun Village, becoming a “huge product placement for the resort,” says Elliott.

Despite glittering like an untouched gem under the international spotlight in recent months, it is unlikely the Dominican Republic will start excluding those looking to spend less than $200 for a hotel room. The inexpensive, all-inclusive vacation market is well entrenched in the country, so the deals will be around for the long run. And whatever your budget, you can be confident in the knowledge that you’ll be in good company, sharing the D.R. sunshine with some of the globe’s rich and famous. And no need to be intimidated—they’re likely getting a sense of the place, just like you.


CELEBRITY REPUBLIC

Bring your camera and look for these stars buying vacation homes in the Dominican Republic

Donald Trump

Last spring, real estate mogul and The Apprentice host Trump launched Trump Farallon Estates at Cap Cana, minutes away from Punta Cana Airport. He sold more than US$350 million gross, representing 95 per cent of available inventory, in the first four hours after the sales launch. The Estates, perched on the highest bluff in the area at 60 feet above sea level, consists of 68 lots, ranging in size from 1.6 to 12 acres, and priced between US$3 million and US$12 million. News reports suggest one of the reasons why Trump became interested in the country was because he was looking for his own Caribbean retreat.

Oscar de la Renta, Julio Iglesias and Mikhail Baryshnikov

The D.R.-born designer and Spanish crooner are investors in, and sometime residents of, Grupo Punta Cana’s Hotel Tortuga Bay, while the Russian ballet master also keeps a home here.

Brad Pitt, Shakira and Vin Diesel

Word is that the male half of Brangelina, the Colombian pop star, and the former bouncer-turned-action star have all been interested in the Samana area on the country’s north coast, three hours from Puerto Plata. Shakira and Diesel have already bought, while Pitt has been seen more than once with real estate agents checking out the area, known for its beautiful, secluded beaches.


BEACHFRONT (OR THEREABOUTS) ON A BUDGET

1) $485,000
Beachfront, 4,300-sq. ft., seven-bedroom, six-bathroom home in a popular and quiet area of Puerto Plata; sits adjacent to the coastline and encompasses stunning views of the ocean with direct access to the beach. Built in 2001 ( coralbayrealestate.com).

2) $250,000
A brand-new, 1,500-sq. ft., three-bedroom, three-bathroom villa located just metres from the beach in Cabarete. This luxury home offers fantastic ocean views and is furnished in exquisite native hardwood. One of the best locations in Cabarete
( coralbayrealestate.com).

3) $185,000
Located on the main street in Sosua and only a few steps from the beach, this eight-bedroom and five-bathroom, 4,000-sq. ft. property is ideal for a large family vacation home, or it can be converted into a bed and breakfast. One section of the property can also be used as rental commercial space
( remaxnorthcoast.com).

4) $108,000
This 800-sq. ft., one-bedroom, one-bathroom, cozy little house is in an extremely favourable location, just steps from the white sandy beach in Las Terrenas on the Samaná Peninsula. The best-priced in the area
( remaxnorthcoast.com).

5) $100,000
This beautiful, 21,520-sq. ft. lot, located in an exclusive hill near Cabrera on the eastern end of the country’s north coast, boasts a full ocean view and is surrounded by tropical forest. The beach is a short walk away
( remaxnorthcoast.com ).

6) $97,000
This three-bedroom, two-bathroom, 2,421-sq. ft. house boasts an ocean view in Sosua on the country’s north shore. This property is ready for a second floor and is close to all amenities, including an international school
( remaxnorthcoast.com).