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New Development Areas
Campeche, San Felipe, Playa del Carmen, Litibu and Punta Mita in Nayarit, Mazatlan and Puerto Peñasco are places that have gone from being just tourist spots to major targets for developers in the past five years. Big companies, armed with the necessary financial muscle, are turning these areas into luxurious resorts that provide every service under the sun to create a unique holiday/living experience.
According to industry experts, the market has become much more demanding in how and where people want to spend their free time and developers are in turn responding to this call and these destinations have become prime examples of this phenomenon.
Mazatlan, for example, had next to nothing to show in terms of development projects two years ago. Since then developers have pumped more than US$150 million into the area with a lot more to come.
"Due to Mazatlan's location it appeals to a lot of people from northern Mexico and young couples from the U.S.," points out Nancy Dietrich, a realtor with the firm Walfre Real Estate.
The majority of Mazatlan's development has come in the form of residential apartments that start around US$200,000.
The meteoric boom in Mexico's construction industry has also enveloped the Riviera Maya. Spanish firm OHL has invested US$1.4 billion in this Carribean coastal territory over the last seven years. One project known as "Mayakoba" is an eco-resort that spans over 640 hectares. Salvador Lines, director of new development for OHL, in a communiqué, outlined plans for 400 new luxury apartments that would blend into Riviera Maya's exotic vegetation. Government law prohibits buildings to be more than three-stories high in the area.
The Canadian conglomerate Fairmont Hotels & Resorts recently opened its doors for business and are planning to build residential apartments in the new year. U.S. firm Rosewood Residences have just begun construction on uber-luxury apartments with a starting price of around US$3.5 million and 450 square meters in size. Each apartment will come with its own docking facility.
Another company with considerable investment clout, Viceroy Resort & Residences, will inaugurate 110 houses in 2008 while its other project, Banyan Tree, will feature 120 villas that are currently under construction. Banyan Tree will also come with a Greg Norman Signature course and a marina. By 2012, it expects to have added 3,000 houses within its complex which is an unprecedented figure for the area.
Foreign Interest
Mexico has become a Mecca for foreign development firms. They make up 60 percent of the total of real estate companies that are currently investing in Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos, Ixtapa, Puerto Peñasco, Mazatlan and Cancun.
Of the 120 new developments that sprang up in Los Cabos in the last three years 70 percent were built by foreign developers.
"The residential real estate market in Mexico is booming and Americans are taking note of its potential worth. That's why we're building communities of the highest quality and nobody can match our product," says Chris Snell, president of Snell Real Estate, a U.S. firm that offers property to foreigners between US$8,000 to US$10,000 a square meter.
This year the U.S. firm Related entered the Mexican market. With a portfolio worth more than US$8 billion, Related is set to unveil "Icon Vallarta," a US$120 million, 25-floor, three-tower complex located in the heart of Puerto Vallarta.
Meanwhile, the iconic magnate Donald Trump has also stretched his empire south of the border with Trump Ocean Resort Baja. The tycoon's latest foray will offer a hotel as well as luxury condominiums in Mexico's Baja California Peninsula. The US$200 million project will boast 26 floors and 525 first-class suites and be divided into three towers. The launch date is scheduled within 18 months.
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