Luxury Living International Fall 2007
© Dale Leatherman 2007
What a difference a decade makes. A few years ago most Americans couldn’t find the Dominican Republic on a map. Today they’re buying real estate there as if it’s the last frontier. I discovered the DR in the 1980s, when I fell in love with Casa de Campo, the island’s upscale resort-residential benchmark for more than 30 years. Unfortunately, I wasn’t smart enough to invest. Back then you could live like a sugar baron for a fraction of the cost of a condo in Miami, and even today villas are still half what you’d pay on other islands.
For an island country to ignite as the DR has—it’s being hailed as the “new St. Barts”—the stars have to align, so to speak. Located between Puerto Rico and Cuba, 3 ½-hours from New York, the DR always had convenience going for it. But it took a shift in its perception as a cheap all-inclusive destination to attract affluent second-home buyers.
Punta Cana’s modern new airport helped; arrivals rose from 1.9 million in 1996 to more than 5 million in 2007. It also fueled resort development along the east coast--which, by the way, is lined with some of the finest beaches in the Caribbean. Then the celebrities came. Dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov abandoned St. Barts to build next to his friends, designer Oscar de la Renta and singer Julio Iglesias, at the Punta Cana Resort & Club. Folks like Brad Pitt, Vin Diesel and Robert Deniro started scouting for their next hideaways.
Wisely, the government poured tourism dollars back into the infrastructure. And so, the boom is on. The past decade saw the launch of three mega-resort-residential developments and countless smaller ones. Cap Cana sold $350 million in Trump neighborhood properties in one day. At Roco Ki, it was $100 million in a day. Older resorts like Punta Cana Resort & Club and Casa de Campo are on the real estate fast-track, too. Golf is also booming. The DR is now the Caribbean’s top golf destination. . . .
Contact me to read the entire story or to discuss second rights or a rewrite. daleatherman@cs.com