I gave my heart to Eleuthera many years ago, as have many friends, and as much as I think this devel

Baha Mar  is a $3.5 BILLION mega-resort under construction now in Nassau, The Bahamas. Thousands of construction crews are working around the clock, working so diligently they add one full story to the hotel towers every ten days. It is the largest resort under construction in the Western Hemisphere and has been described as Vegas with 3000 feet of beach .
Here s how majorly buzzed this resort is: I was at a national real estate editor s conference, talking, actually, to the developer of another major resort in the Caymans. I mentioned that I had visited Baha Mar and was very impressed. Her eyes grew wide.
Such a development is the colossal Baha Mar mega-resort. The $3.5 billion , yes, with a B project is set on 1,000 acres of prime beach front paradise and will soon become one of the world s largest, most luxurious resorts with everything jet-setting second home owners who love water could desire, and then more.
The total square footage of the development is expected to hit 3.3 million, with every square inch devoted to luxury. Baha Mar will open formally in December, 2014. There will be four hotels including a luxury Grand Hyatt, Rosewood, and Mondrian and the Baha Mar Casino Hotel. All of the hotels will surround a 100,000 car rental long term berlin germany square foot casino that promises to combine the best of Las Vegas and Monte Carlo. Jack Nicklaus himself is directing construction of a brand new 18-hole Nicklaus Signature golf course. The resort will include 40+ luxury retail stores, 30+ restaurants, bars and nightclubs all set on one of the world s most spectacular beaches.
Baha Mar is selling 284 private residences total for everyone s taste. There will be one bedroom condominiums car rental long term berlin germany to three bedroom penthouses, and four bedroom total beach villas all overlooking miles and miles of sparkling clear, aqua blue ocean.
Perhaps the best news yet: the lift will be so convenient, you will practically land at the resort. Seriously, Baha Mar has already invested in building more than $250 million new tree-lined boulevards that will connect the resort to Nassau s sparkling new Lynden Pindling International Airport with only a 10 minute ride. Lynden car rental long term berlin germany Pindling is the largest airport in The Bahamas, and was recently enlarged even more. If you fly private, you can depart the mainland and be on the beach by ten. Fly commercial, you can early-bird it from DFW via Miami in the morning, and be on the beach by afternoon.
Baha Mar Development worked car rental long term berlin germany closely with the Bahamian government and put together plans for a multi-billion play world on Cable Beach that would include private residences, hotels, a casino, retail village, convention centre, state of the art expanded and enlarged golf course, plus of course beach and pool amenities.
March, 2009. I remember the mood well, even in we escaped-the-recession Texas. (Yes, the tee shirts exist.) car rental long term berlin germany Real estate was glum, depressing, and no one was moving unless they absolutely had to or were carried out of their homes feet first. Banks were as dry as the the Sahara.
China s Export-Import Bank agreed to arrange $2.5 billion in construction financing and the China State Construction Engineering Company (the largest construction company in the world) signed on to build the project. The plan called for Baha Mar to feature four luxury hotels and add 2,200 hotel rooms and condos to the country car rental long term berlin germany s current inventory.
By supporting Baha Mar’s development, the Bahamian government created 4,000 more Bahamian jobs, $400 million in Bahamian construction contracts, and $8 million for training Bahamian workers. After all, white glove hotels were coming car rental long term berlin germany in and the staffs needed detailed training to kick service up a notch or so..
Bahamian firms got their contracts, and the China State Construction Engineering Company got to work. The developer also covered the cost of a fancy new electrical substation, built a central sewerage system, and even a reverse osmosis plant for potable water. Massive on-site generators guaranteed car rental long term berlin germany to keep the resort juiced up even after a storm for several weeks. Then the developer did even more economic hand-stands: when work on the $75 million road to the airport, named JFK by Bahamians, was stalled and slowed, Chinese workers pitched in and helped car rental long term berlin germany to finish it. Despite the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Cold War of yesteryear, this part of the Caribbean likes Americans enough to name a major street after an American president.
If you are considering a second home for purchase in a beautiful beach environment, this is it, baby. Buy now or keep Baha Mar on your radar. 284 residences are available for sale, starting at about $1.2 million, each with a killer water view. Baha Mar has the magic of great climate, sunshine and surf which means if you buy here, you will enjoy the water every day and every day will be like, well, vacation!
The views are endless, says Tom Dunlap, president of Baha Mar Development. Dunlap cut his teeth at Walt Disney Co. as vice president of Imagineering, then built a few billion dollar plus resorts in California and Costa Rica. Now he s the man in charge of constructing every molecule of the resort from 9,000 sheets of drawings!
It is in the design of Baha Mar where you most see the fingerprints of world-class developer Sarkis Izmirlian. car rental long term berlin germany Izmirlian s charge to the teams of architects and designers was to create a place that provided all of the luxuries anyone could imagine in a five-star resort, but preserve the authentic look and feel of the Bahamas. Like the waterfalls and brightly colored stucco buildings that pop out and make you feel brighter just from the ocular jolt. Bahaman art will be proudly displayed and promoted.
When you see the design of Baha Mar, the entire development looks and feels like the Bahamas. When you get a look at the uncompromising luxury of the finishes in the residences, your reaction is that someone really was very careful, thoughtful, almost obsessive about how they planned car rental long term berlin germany Baha Mar, as if they were matching the perfect weather.
It s absolutely beautiful (in Nassau) every day, Dunlap car rental long term berlin germany told The Bahamas Investor. When you build these great resorts, it s kind of like building a stage set. We are in a location where the people have been in the hospitality business for a long time, and understand the importance of our guests having car rental long term berlin germany a wonderful time.
Baha Mar is becoming the poster child of a development car rental long term berlin germany that is doing everything RIGHT: the sophistication and solidarity of the developer, the construction genius of Tom Dunlap, a $3.6 billion USD infusion car rental long term berlin germany from China, and top brand names of the major hospitality players committed: Grand Hyatt, Rosewood and Mondrian.
car rental long term berlin germany Dunlap says Bahamas buyers tend be 80% American, and 10% each Canadians and Europeans. Baha Mar, just this month, began marketing in the United States so you will likely begin seeing and hearing much more about the resort. Baha Mar is also attracting an international jet-setting crowd with purchasers from Europe, Asia and the Middle car rental long term berlin germany East. Because of the generally low cost of living in the Bahamas and the virtual absence of property or income taxes, the Bahamas has become one of the world s top retirement meccas as well as a jet-setter car rental long term berlin germany playground.
While some second home purchasers car rental long term berlin germany are interested in a resort like Baha Mar because of the rental income a popular resort property can provide, most are looking for a place to create family memories in one of the world s most beautiful water and natural marine life havens. They want expansive beach front, plus clean, sparkling warm waters, perfect weather and activities car rental long term berlin germany 24/7 the moment they arrive. That could be swim, snorkel, scuba, sun and jet ski, or it could be boat rides to explore private islands, lolling on a yacht, golf on signature courses, tennis, fitness, spa, arts and theater.
The affluent buyer is no longer focused on zip codes, says Laurie Moore-Moore, a Dallas-based car rental long term berlin germany real estate consultant at The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing. The uber wealthy have become a tribe unto themselves where they find each other through common activities. They want stories and experiences, not just products.
“This is a group that has become less local, far more global,” she says. “They find themselves through Wimbledon, The World Cup, Monte Carlo, Concours d Elegance at Pebble Beach, sailing and great beaches.”
We have new infrastructure, increased airlift and transportation, says Tom Dunlap. With the level of public infrastructure and private investment, I believe Baha Mar and The Bahamas car rental long term berlin germany are perched to hit a home run when we open in 2014.
I gave my heart to Eleuthera many years ago, as have many friends, and as much as I think this development may help the Bahamians to have work, it makes me wonder how SOON this is going to affect the other Bahamian islands. I know one can t stop progress (meaning the ALMIGHTY DOLLAR) but the peace I absorb when I am in Eleuthera (and I am about to be moving there permanently, and my son is just finishing a home there also)will vanish all to soon. I know this simple beauty and the lifestyle it brings to me will be gone. Can t some things be left alone????
We recently spent some time at our family-owned second car rental long term berlin germany home in Maine, at Drakes Island. The community is abuzz over a few things, one of them this sign fading posted by one of the homeowners down at the end of the beach. What do you think? car rental long term berlin germany Do you build a house with lots [ ]
Our Vacation Home Week celebration on CandysDirt.com was such an amazing success. We got to feature incredible second car rental long term berlin germany homes and developments in some of our favorite locations. Luxury amenities and gorgeous design, each one of these homes has just what you want for a getaway and then some! And boy, let me tell you about [ ]
Boot Ranch has the most amazing Overlook Cabins, decorated by a brilliant design team and given the posh treatment you d expect from this Texas Hill Country development. Located just outside picturesque Fredricksburg, this development pairs excellent golf, amazing views, and five-star accom