Posts Tagged ‘Sugar Beach’

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Foreign Property Buyer

Friday, July 9th, 2010

Female property investors are becoming increasingly confident about the overseas property market; Cardea Property Consultants, sales and marketing agents for Sugar Beach villas in St Lucia, have sold luxury villas totalling $14.5 million in their first six months of operation. Since the all-female agency set up in December 2009, four private residences and three freehold rental pool villas have been sold.

Their success is down to several factors:

- They are selling properties on a Freehold basis which is very unusual as beachfront land is leasehold in St Lucia
- Owners receive a 37.5% share of the total room revenue, which will be pooled and then split between owners proportionately according to the purchase price of their villa
- The developer is not reliant on bank finance to complete the renovation and the project.

There is a number of reasons to buy investment property in St Lucia:

A sound investment: St. Lucia offers the same advantages as other Caribbean properties, with prices currently 60-65 per cent less for the equivalent floor space. The island’s tax regulations ensure minimal taxes on re-sales; no estate taxes and no tax on rental income for the first 10 years of ownership (15 years for Sugar Beach).

Culture: St. Lucia provides the best of both worlds: a laid-back friendly island atmosphere with modern amenities and North American building standards. Influenced by a blend of African, French and English traditions, St. Lucians are known as the friendliest people in the Caribbean, if not the world. The island hosts a wide array of cultural festivals, giving visitors a true taste of the tropics.

Security: St. Lucia is a stable, independent nation, providing visitors with an established and trusted banking system, excellent medical services and a safe tourism environment.

Accessible location: St. Lucia is an ideal location for those looking to escape the cold winter months. It is easily accessible from London Heathrow and London Gatwick from where there are 5 flights per week with British Airways and 3 flights per week with Virgin. St Lucia is also accessible by sea as a popular cruise and sailing destination.

A tropical paradise: St. Lucia offers rainforest hiking and walking, some of the world’s best sailing, the Piton mountains and golden sand beaches.

Cardea Property Consultants, sales and marketing agents for Sugar Beach villas in St Lucia, have sold luxury villas totalling $14.5 million in their first six months of operation. Since the all-female agency set up in December 2009, four private residences and three freehold rental pool villas have been sold.
Lisa Basire, marketing director, puts Cardea’s success down to several factors. She says: “Sugar Beach is being sold on a freehold basis, which is extremely unusual in St Lucia as beachfront land is leasehold.

“We have been able to sell new-build rental pool villas, which form the accommodation for the resort because the existing hotel – the Jalousie Plantation – has 20 years of trading history. That’s why Sugar Beach is able to offer owners an exact 37.5% of the pooled room revenue rather than paying a split of the profit because they know what the running costs are and they know the occupancy levels. For added confidence, purchasers of these fully furnished rental pool villas enjoy a minimum 5% rental guarantee from handover and for the first 12 months after the hotel (Jalousie Plantation) re-opens as The Tides Sugar Beach in 2011.”

Owners are entitled to use their villa for four weeks each year. For a one bedroom villa this is the equivalent to a saving of around US$23,100 each year.

Lisa continues: “We are finding, however, that the three bed – roomed private residences are the most popular purchases. I think the reason for this might be that the type of purchaser coming in at this level is more focused on retaining privacy and anonymity.”

“Another positive of Sugar Beach in this difficult world market, is that the developer is not reliant on bank finance to complete the $100 million development, giving investors’ peace of mind that the resort will be re-developed as planned.”

Most investors at the Sugar Beach resort are primarily from Britain making up 56% of the total purchases, followed by Europeans and Americans which together make up for 30% of the sales. Buyers of the Private Residences get all the benefits of the ongoing US$100 million redevelopment of the former Jalousie Plantation resort which will redefine the concept of luxury when complete and re-launched as the Tides Sugar Beach Resort in 2011.

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Jamaica Observer

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

St Lucia and US Virgin Islands post double-digit tourism numbers

BY NICOLE MC DONALD

Friday, May 28, 2010

ST Lucia and the United States Virgin Islands are the only two countries in the Caribbean that have recorded double-digit growth in the tourism industry.

At least that’s according to Smith Travel Research, which is an independent benchmarking company. St Lucia’s growth rate for the first quarter of the year was listed at 14.3 per cent. Smith research has also rated St Lucia in a top five rating by investors for its investment friendly climate. The news is welcomed by Tourism Minister Allen Chastanet who was informed of the rating at the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Investment Conference 2010 (CHTIC 2010) held in Puerto Rico on May 6.

“This means that the policies we put in place have been working and in very trying times too,” the minister told St Lucia’s Star newspaper. “We have been bucking the trend. The numbers are even more incredible when one takes into account that our US arrivals are up 37 per cent for the first quarter.”

The minister has been heavily criticised for some his marketing initiatives in the past.

“I feel vindicated. We feel vindicated because we know that our work is clearly cut out for us with the second half of the year coming,” he said before going to speak about other information that came out of the conference.

“What’s interesting about the conference was that while there was the general prognosis that the recession is over, they expected there to be a lag effect and they did not expect to see full recovery at least for another two years. The other thing that Smith research did was an analysis of the effects of 9/11. And it showed that it took the hotels six years to recuperate their rates after discounting after 9/11. With the levels of discounting due to deepness of the recession, they expected it to be eight years before hotels could recuperate rates. In the case of St Lucia the faster we can get back to the numbers then we can beat that trend. This will be very important for the viability of this country.”

Chastanet had some definite views on why St Lucia had recorded double-digit growth.

“Last summer we felt that Mexico would not recuperate. There was an opportunity for us to be able to steal some market share from the United States of America and we went out very aggressively. Once we were able to secure the TV show The Bachelor, we then spent a disproportionate amount of funds on the US market. We did a strong trade campaign in the fall along with a major radio and Internet campaign in the month of November and we saw immediate results from that. Now, following The Bachelor filming in St Lucia we expect to see the rewards.”

Chastanet also listed the increased airline seats to St Lucia during the upcoming summer.

Said the minister: “Last year we had 9000 seats a month coming out of the US market. This year we are going to have 20,000 seats. The increase in arrivals are not only better than 2009 but they are now the best we ever had. So we have seen real growth.”

The minister also spoke to the STAR about budget cuts and the tourism industry allocation being cut back.

“I was not very happy, very disappointed, but at the same time I also understand the government is in a very precarious situation. Expenses have gone up, especially in terms of the amounts that we have to pay for salaries, recurrent expenditure is high and we are going to have to find a way to make what we have work. It is going to require some levels of structural changes as to the way we do business at the St Lucia Tourist Board. We are presently reviewing our budget and preparing a proposal for the prime minister and minister of finance in terms of the way forward.”

Tourism Minister Allen Chastanet says he is encouraged by recent travel figures

Considering the financial resources available for tourism development the minister did speak about the support given to St Lucia’s carnival in the past and whether the million-dollar investment of last year will again come through this year.

“I made a three year commitment to Carnival. When we came into governance there were only about five bands and I said what we would do is invest a million dollars a year into the production of carnival to make it viable and hopefully at the end of three years we would be able to still spend the three million dollars but in marketing. I didn’t want to go spend the money in marketing unless we had a product. I think we have been able to achieve that. We had 22 bands last year; we had three bands with over 1,000 people. So I think from the point of view of the private sector, the entities that normally sponsor Carnival, we have now brought back Carnival to being the biggest event we have in St Lucia… We are going to spend our million dollars on marketing for the event. The Tourist Board remains committed to carnival.”

The minister added that he would like to see the St Lucia Tourist Board help local performers and artistes produce videos.

Said Chastanet: “It’s through these musical videos that we get the exposure we need to help promote our carnival,” he said. “We have been very disciplined as an organisation to spend money over the last three years on the Carnival product. That has paid off and a lot of musicians are back on their feet and St Lucians are beginning to expect a better and better Carnival. But the Tourist Board funds right now would be better spent on marketing the event. The Tourist Board is after all a marketing agency.

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New Airport to Support a Higher End Lifestyle for Property Owners in St Lucia Announced

Friday, June 4th, 2010

The Minister of Tourism Allen Chastanet reveals that the quality of life is changing in St Lucia and services are developing to support a higher-end lifestyle for property owners and discerning travellers. The news has been welcomed by luxury developments such as Sugar Beach, an exclusive development of luxurious hotel villas and private residences in the Val des Pitons, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Chastanet says: “The property market has weathered the recession well. Our real estate prices did not boom uncontrollably, so consequently, did not crash like other destinations. People have bought property to use for lifestyle reasons rather than for speculation.”

Chastanet continues “We are redefining St Lucia’s image as ‘barefoot luxury’. St Lucia previously was not known as a high-end destination, but we now have several new upscale resorts such as Sugar Beach, and Jade Mountain amongst others. We are now developing better facilities to support this clientele.”

Lisa Basire,  Marketing Director of Sugar Beach says, “We have had a fantastic six months, with five sales made in December alone totalling nearly US$7million and two Residences sold over Easter weekend worth around US$4million.  The property market is still very much alive and demand for high end products in St Lucia is good.”

St Lucia has always been a popular sailing destination with many boats starting there and heading to the Grenadines. Now with the opening of new super yacht facilities at Rodney Bay Marina, the island is seeing more and more celebrities dropping in on their mega yachts. Recent spots have included Bono, Tiger Woods, Roman Abramavich and Oprah. The new facilities can now take yachts on 32 dedicated berths up to 250 ft. in length. Already, the marina has received rave reviews from participants in the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) who made the facility their temporary home after their race across the Atlantic.

Arriving at St. Lucia will also become more of a pleasure as the Government has announced plans recently to construct a new terminal with all modern amenities at the Hewanorra International Airport in Vieux-Fort. Prime Minister King says the development of a new terminal at Hewanorra, is designed to accommodate increased airlift, (which is scheduled to triple in the summer of 2010), and to bring the airport up to speed with international trends and standards.” The improved terminal will also allow for all inter-island Caribbean flights to pass through Hewanorra, making it a preferred destination for private jets. Work started on the new terminal in January 2010 and it will take two years to complete.

The Baywalk Shopping Mall in Rodney Bay is another development in the north of the island that is close to completion. There will be two floors of retail shops including some of the world’s best brands and St. Lucia’s first casino, which is opening in July 2010.

In Soufriere, US$100 million has been invested on the former Jalousie Plantation resort which will redefine the concept of luxury once complete and re-launched as the Tides Sugar Beach Resort in 2011. Resort facilities include 24-hour butler service, three gourmet restaurants, four bars, the Rainforest Spa (fully opening in September 2010), a scuba dive centre, kids club, games room and two white sand beaches with beach club & lounge.

There are 64 luxurious one and two bedroom hotel villas available for ownership, each with a private plunge pool and breathtaking ocean or Piton views. With prices ranging from US$700,000 to US$2.1million, owners are entitled to four weeks usage per year and a minimum 5% rental guarantee from villa handover until the end of the first year after the hotel re-opens.

The hotel villas at Sugar Beach are all fully furnished and are being sold as freehold, which is extremely unusual in St Lucia due to the Queens Chain Law. And, as the villas are in a designated World Heritage Site, you are ensured that there is no risk of over development. 

Also available to purchase are 41 stunning Private Residences. Each of these meticulously appointed spacious homes has two to six bedrooms and affords spectacular, ocean and piton views with prices from US$2,400,000 to US$6,000,000. All properties have been designed by the award-winning architect Lane Pettigrew in the same Caribbean white fretwork style.

Owners of the Private Residences can use their home as little or as often as they like. If they wish to rent out their residence, The Tides will manage everything, providing the best of all worlds; the privacy of an island paradise, international marketing and management to enhance rental when not in use and exceptional facilities just steps away.

Lisa Basire says, “The South West coast is fast becoming an exclusive destination. With luxurious amenities and all the seclusion you would expect from an idyllic island home, St Lucia is aligning itself with more elite locations such a St Barths and Anguilla.”

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Destinations of the World News

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

A sweet proposition

ST. LUCIA

by Megan Wynes | June 1, 2010

Discover a slice of paradise for sale on the Caribbean island of St Lucia

There are few places in the world where it’s possible to relax, switch off the BlackBerry and really wind down; The Jalousie Plantation, St Lucia is one of them.

Nestled within the Caribbean island’s UNESCO World Heritage listed Val des Pitons area, the plantation is flanked on either side by the majestic peaks of the Gros and Petit Pitons, while at its feet can be found a crystal-clear blue ocean, bursting with protected coral reefs.

Recently acquired by Roger Myers, founder of Café Rouge and Punch Taverns, this fabulous plantation is the site of a new resort development, dubbed Sugar Beach, which is to be managed by the Los Angeles-based Viceroy Hotel Group’s The Tides brand when it opens in late 2011.

Working with award-winning RIBA architect Lane Pettigrew – who also owns a home next to the plantation – Myers’ inspiration for the design of the hotel villas, private residences, spa, restaurants and bars, has been drawn from the island’s rich traditions, with local craftsmen and materials being used where possible.

The rainforest spa is a wonderful example of this: the treatment rooms, raised on stilts above the plantation’s natural springs, have been built to resemble the homes of St Lucia’s original inhabitants.

With thatched roofs and thick wooden walls, these treehouses can be found hidden in hills on the island, and many of the local Rastafarian islanders still call them home.

Several of the craftsmen involved in the spa’s construction, due for completion in September 2010, hail from these communities, and this is where you can see Myers’ passion for the people shine through.

He is a common sight around the plantation, chatting to the builders – in his signature straw hat and shorts – making sure that everything is coming along, as planned.

It’s easy to understand his passion; a substantial US$100m has gone into transforming Jalousie into what will be ‘one of the best resorts in the world’. A bold claim, perhaps, but one site visit is enough to convince even the most belligerent doubting Thomas.

It’s impossible not to be moved by the beauty of this place. Tropical palms scattered on the surrounding slopes conceal any signs of recent development, while the old plantation-style accommodation is lovingly transformed.

Each of the 85 freehold hotel villas, and 36 private residences currently being built is different from the next, and surrounded by developed tropical gardens they offer a level of privacy and seclusion found in few resorts in the Caribbean. From the beach, the villas are invisible, literally enveloped in lush greenery, and scattered up a steep incline, each boasting uninterrupted views of the ocean.

Expansive decks are positioned to soak up the amazing views, while immaculate colonial interiors and furnishings are thoughtfully laid out to allow guests to take in the exquisite surroundings, whether from a cushioned window seat or their own private plunge pool.

Although isolated from the central resort buildings, residents have access to 24-hour butler service – with each small cluster of villas afforded their own dedicated staff – while transport is always on hand to whisk them off to one of the resort’s restaurants or bars.

Several of these, now restored, provide a glimpse of the very high standards guests can expect once the resort officially reopens as The Tides Sugar Beach next year, and stand as testament to the hard work put in by Myers and the property’s new general manager, Andre Boersma (and his team from The Tides).

Our particular favourite was the Cane Bar in the old Plantation Room. Flanking the huge wooden door that serves as its grand entrance its a wonderful painting by a local Caribbean artist: a woman stitching a voluptuous sheath of red fabric that seems to float down the wall.

When lit by the stairway’s grand chandelier at night, you could almost touch the rich fabric.

Inside, stark white walls are hung with voluminous sheets of fabric that are reflected in the deep, mahogany wood floors, while huge velvet sofas and bar stools invite guests to relax with a glass of local Caribbean rum.

Yet more artwork dots the walls, handpicked by Myers from his private collection, while in the Late Night Bar, celebrity friends have posed for a series of portraits – all signed. Our favourite was a casual pencil sketch, by Lennon, hung next to the entrance to the roof terrace.

Just a stone’s throw from this den of delights is the newly refurbished Great Room, home to the resort’s fabulous fine-dining restaurant.

Offering a selection of flavours from the Caribbean to Central America and the Mediterranean, the chefs here are defining a new level of island cuisine. Using local produce where possible, head chef, Cupertino Ortiz, is taking advantage of the abundance of fresh fish and shellfish, adding a touch of Mexican zest, a healthy splash of Caribbean spice, and delivering a taste sensation.

The beach restaurant and bar was another haute highlight. Dotted with soft linen sofa seats, solid wood benches, and open to the elements, it has a wonderfully casual feel during breakfast and lunch service, while in the evening, it takes on a whole new atmosphere.

Listening to the sounds of the waves lapping on the beach, while enjoying a glass of chilled white wine and a simple plate of pasta or fresh ceviche, there’s nothing really quite like it.

GLENCONNER BEACH

It’s been more than 50 years since Colin Tennant (better known as Lord Glenconner) bought the Caribbean island of Mustique, and created a luxury island community welcoming both Royalty and celebrities alike.

With strong links to Jalousie Plantation, Lord G is now the face behind a new island community at Glenconner Beach (pictured above).

Only five luxury villas (four freehold, one leasehold) will be built on the site of Lord G’s former home, with access to their own private beach, a private jetty, and uninterrupted ocean views. Each five- to seven-bedroom villa (they range from 13,340 to 26,852 sq ft) is to be designed by Lane Pettigrew in true Caribbean style, with outdoor and indoor spaces merging seamlessly. There are also plans to develop a small shopping village, where local artisans, farmers and fishermen can sell their wares to guests. Villas start from US$7m and all will have access to the resort facilities at The Tides Sugar Beach.

WANT TO BUY?

The bonus

• No other building permissions will be granted on the 192 acres of rainforest and pristine beaches. • The government of St Lucia has granted investors a 15-year holiday on income tax and a 50 per cent waiver on annual property tax for five years.

The hotel villas

These one- or two-bedroom villas form part of a rental pool within which owners are entitled to four weeks free usage and a revenue split of the rental return, guaranteed at a minimum of five per cent net ROI from now until the end of the first year of operation of Sugar Beach. These villas start from US$610,000 and go up to US$2.1m.

The private residences

Owners are entitled to unlimited personal usage, or if the owner wishes, they can rent their property through The Tides. Residences are priced from US$2.3m for a two-bedroom property and up to US$9m for one with six bedrooms.

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Caribbean Property Magazine

Thursday, May 6th, 2010

Sugar Beach REFINED

Situated on the South-West coast of St Lucia, the celebrated Jalousie Plantation has been a favourite for discerning travellers for a number of years. In keeping with its reputation as a world-class retreat, The Jalousie Plantation is continuing with its quest for perfection by investing in a transformation that will reinforce its standing as the most magnificent real estate opportunity on earth.

“The major redevelopment if the Jalousie Plantation is already creating a lasting impression amongst returning guests,” says Naomi Cambridge, Sales Director. Stunning new bars and restaurants (sublime in every detail), richly embellish the experience of hospitality.

These inspired additions include Beach Restaurant and rustic Beach Bar set between the graceful Almond trees, the futuristic Cane Bar (with its cosy Late Night Bar) and of course the piece de resistance, the Rainforest Spa. This outstanding facility features tree-house treatment rooms, situated in a lush, jungle setting, overlooking a pristine natural waterfall. Many of our sales have been generated by guests who initially came to visit, but then fell in love with the resort and subsequently bought the villa as a result.”

On completion, the resort will be managed by internationally acclaimed “The Tides” (owned by the Los Angeles-based Viceroy Hotel Group), administering their signature sophisticated, yet informal style and re-branded as “The Tides Sugar Beach” – opening in 2011.

Part of the unobtrusive $100 million redevelopment is the transformation of the hotel accommodation into 85 luxurious, fully-furnished, freehold hotel villas with expansive ocean, Piton and rainforest views. Each villa can count on the qualities of its own private butler service and other outstanding details such as exceptional finishes including colonial fretwork, four-poster beds, air conditioning, flat screen TVs and iPod stations, spacious walk-in showers, claw foot bathtubs, lavish plunge pools and luxurious linens. The 85 villas form part of the hotel rental pool, affording owners four weeks free usage and a revenue split of the rental return, guaranteed at a minimum 5% net ROI from now until the end of the first year of operation of Sugar Beach. With built villas available for immediate purchase, this could be for up to three years. Prices start at US$610,000 rising to US$2,100,000.

Within the tranquil grounds of Sugar Beach, you’ll find thirty-one Private Residences which let you live out your dreams of a private island getaway, whilst taking advantage of the luxury that only an exclusive resort can afford. Taking their cue from the plantation houses of a bygone era, these exceptional two, three or four bedroom residences include a full gourmet kitchen outfitted with the latest equipment, beautiful hardwood flooring, Jalousie shutters and expansive outdoor living areas complete with large swimming pools. All have spectacular ocean and Piton views and are available from US$2,300,000 to US$6,000,000.

If as an owner you wish to rent out your Private Residence then rest assured, The Tides will manage your affairs, providing the best of all worlds; the seclusion of an island paradise, international marketing and management expertise (to enhance the rental when not in use) and exceptional facilities just steps away. A signature of the service The Tides provides are the ‘Personal Assistants’ who intuitively anticipate the needs of the guests, taking enormous pleasure and pride in delivering a service that is second to none.

Located adjacent to the resort, but set in its own exclusive community, is Glenconner Beach. It is here that you will discover five large majestic homes, whose inspired architecture is reminiscent of modern estates, reflected in some of the world’s most elite destinations – setting new standards for modern Caribbean living.

Each has between five and seven bedrooms and is priced at US$7-US$9m. Award-winning RIBA architect Lane Pettigrew’s designs showcase the very best of the indoor-outdoor living style so suited to the Islands. Four of the residences are positioned directly on the beach, ensuring uninterrupted sea views. The fifth residence, set on the idyllic hills above, has panoramic views out to sea and features steps leading down to the white sand beach. The exteriors offer a modern take on the distinctive French colonial style but can be designed to the owner’s bespoke specifications.

Lane Pettigrew says, “There is nothing comparable to these houses in St Lucia. If you were to look for something similar in Barbados, the market value would be at least £17m.”

Lisa Basire, Marketing Director of Sugar Beach Villas agrees. “Buying a similar property in Barbados in comparable terms of beachfront location with the proximity to a 5* deluxe hotel and use of all its facilities would be far more expensive. Furthermore, Glenconner Beach is being sold on a freehold basis which is extremely unusual in St Lucia as beachfront land is almost always owned by the Government and has to be leased from them.”

Lisa continues, “There is no VAT, Capital Gains, Inheritance or Estate Taxes in Saint Lucia and the Stamp Duty of 2% is only payable on the land if construction has not started on your particular villa. The Saint Lucian Government has also granted buyers at any of the three offerings a 15-year holiday on income tax and a 50% waiver on annual property tax for 5 years. More importantly, the developer is not reliant on bank finance to complete the development; therefore investors’ receive piece of mind in the knowledge that the resort will be developed as planned.”

However, what distinguishes Glenconner Beach and Sugar Beach from other exclusive developments in a truly unique location. Nestled on the shores of a picturesque bay, separating the iconic Piton mountains, investors are captivated by ‘an area of outstanding natural beauty’ that is a designated protected UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Tides Sugar Beach is the vision of the English entrepreneur Roger Myers, (founder of the Cafe Rouge and Punch Tavern chains), who fell in love with the island, choosing to make St Lucia his family home more than eight years ago. Roger became sole owner of the Jalousie Plantation in 2008 and is passionate about the project, believing unequivocally that the resort’s dramatic transformation will redefine the concept of luxury in the Caribbean.

Roger says: “Our unique location attracted interest from prestigious resort operators around the world. We chose the Viceroy Hotel Group because their high standards, proven experience and the energetic enthusiasm of their leadership convinced me that together we can create one of the best resorts in the world. I am certain that their brand will provide our guests and owners with a truly special experience in this inspiring destination.”

For real estate enquiries please contact: Sugar Beach: UK: +44 (0)844 921 0124 – St Lucia – +1 (758) 285 4181 e: info@sugarbeachvillas.com – www.sugarbeachvillas.com – www.twitter.com/SugarBeachVilla – www.facebook.com/pages/Soufriere-St-Lucia/Sugar-Beach-Villas

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City AM

Friday, April 16th, 2010

Buy a fraction of St Lucia paradise

Cash in on the new luxury villas at the exclusive Sugar Beach

Zoe Strimpel

THE Caribbean can be a paradise for second homes: but you have to choose wisely. You don’t want to end up in a tourist trap or an area that has been overdeveloped. And if buying into a new development, you want to be sure it’s managed well and properly financed.

The new residences and villas at Sugar Beach, between the magnificent Val des Pitons in south west St Lucia, are all the above and more. The bright white sand, crystalline waters and luscious nature give the location a sense of almost surreal island beauty – indeed, the area is a designated UNESCO Wold Heritage site.

The resort includes 85 luxurious, fully-furnished freehold hotel villas which form part of a rental pool, costing between $700,000 to $2,100,000 (one and two bedroom), and ranging from a spacious 1,064sq ft to 2,272sq ft, and owners are entitled to use them four weeks a year. Facilities, as per luxury hotel group owners The Tides’ five-star USP, include 24 hour butler service, three gourmet restaurants, four bars, a spa, scuba dive centre, kids club, games room, two white sand beaches and a beach club and lounge.

The genius of the rental pool villas is the return on investment owners are guaranteed: there is a 5 per cent per annum rental guarantee for the first 12 months after the hotel opening (scheduled November 2011). Owners will receive a 37.5 per cent share of the total hotel room revenue; which is then returned to the rental pool and split between owners according to the purchase price of the villa.

The resort also includes 31 Private Residences, with five ultra-exclusive homes at Glenconner Beach. They range from two to six bedrooms, with prices from $3,250,000 to $9,000,000. The prices might be high but, what with the extreme elegance of the interiors and breathtaking views of the Pitons and the ocean, they are actually quite reasonable: a comparable villa in Barbados would be 30-40 per cent more expensive.

If you’ve been dreaming of a second home in the sun, Sugar Beach should be top of your list of ways to make the dream a reality. For more info, see www.sugarbeachvillas.com or call 0844 921 0124.

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Sunday Business Post

Sunday, March 21st, 2010

A sainted isle of tranquillity

The mention of the island of St Lucia conjures up an image of a typical four-star honeymoon destination: picturesque and relaxing, but not necessarily on the same level as other, more exclusive Caribbean islands. But that may well be set to change, as St Lucia attempts to steal the thunder of some of its more upmarket neighbours.

One of the Windward Islands, over the years it has been colonised by both the British and the French. When it gained independence in 1979, bananas were its main export, thanks to a preferential trade arrangement with Britain.

This arrangement remained in place until the early 1990s when it was halted by an EU directive, and competition from cheaper South American bananas all but destroyed the banana trade. This encouraged the St Lucian government to invest heavily in tourism.

The sandy coastal area around Rodney Bay in the sheltered north-west of the island was ripe for development, as it included the biggest expanse of low-lying land on what is a mountainous island. This area is still home to most of St Lucia’s beachfront properties, bars and restaurants, and consequently attracts most of its tourist traffic.

But there’s a lot more to do in St Lucia than just sunbathe. Much of the island is mountainous rain forest, which makes for dramatic hiking territory and plenty of eco-tourism opportunities, while expansive reefs and underwater volcanic hot springs provide some of the best diving in the Caribbean.

St Lucia is also a popular second home destination, and there was strong Irish interest in the island during the property boom. The island has not been immune to the effects of the economic downturn, but the outlook for its property market is now cautiously optimistic.

In 2009,theWorld Bank placed St Lucia in the top 30 countries to invest in, higher than anywhere else in the Caribbean.

While tourist arrivals last year were down by 5 per cent on 2008, this compared favourably to the drop experienced by other Caribbean islands – Barbados was down by 8 per cent in the same period, and Antigua by 12 per cent. The island’s best-known landmarks are the twin volcanoes at its south-west tip known as the Pitons.

Rising dramatically out of the turquoise ocean to over 2,000 feet these mountains cradle the Val de Pitons at their base. This area is a protected Unesco world heritage site of outstanding natural beauty, and is also the location for a new five-star resort being constructed on the site of the original Jalousie plantation.

The British aristocrat Lord Glenconner – who was known as Colin Tennant before he inherited his title in 1983 – first came across Jalousie in 1982, when he travelled there by boat in search of the sulphur springs that give the nearby town of Soufriere its name.

Tennant had already had huge success turning the island of Mustique into an exclusive resort, and saw an opportunity to do the same with Jalousie. Since then the hotel has passed through a number of different owners, and in recent years had attained an air of faded grandeur.

Roger Myers, the former owner of the Cafe Rouge restaurant chain, bought the hotel in 2005 and is now spearheading a $100 million transformation programme aimed at turning it into one of the Caribbean’s premier five-star resorts. Key to the transformation programme is the Tides hotel group, which already operates chic resorts in South Beach in Miami and Playa del Carmen in Mexico. When it is relaunched at the end of 2011, the resort will no longer be known as Jalousie – its new title will be the Tides Sugar Beach resort.

Work on the project is well under way, and some of the major features have already been completed. These include an impressive bar and dance club in the main building of the new hotel, where swathes of back-lit white fabric contrast dramatically with shiny glass and lacquered hardwood.

Roger Myers’ impressive personal modern art collection adds an ¡ber-cool feel to the space.

The Rainforest spa consists of treehouse treatment rooms connected by wooden walkways that snake up the side of the hill behind the hotel.

The spa is cooled by a thick canopy of rainforest, while the stream that ran the original sugar mill trickles beneath the treehouses.

This strong focus on detail and design extends to the hotel rooms, which feel more like luxurious colonial villas and incorporate individual plunge pools and vast terraces with incredible views.

Architect Lane Pettigrew is responsible for the refurbishment of the 85 luxury Sugar Beach villas that are nestled in small groups among the 185 acres of rainforest around the resort. Each group of villas has a butler station to take care of the needs of guests, while a shuttle service transports them around the island.

The villas are being sold as a freehold buy-to-let investment with four weeks usage per year for owners.

Prices start at just over €443,000 for a one-bedroom bedroom villa and go up to just over €1 million for a deluxe superior two-bedroom villa.

The villas are fully furnished and finished to a European five-star standard.

There is a guaranteed minimal rental return of 5 per cent per year until the end of 2012, based on hotel occupancy rates of 53 to 67 per cent. The current pre-refurbishment occupancy rate is 78 to 80 per cent, so investors could generate a significantly higher return once official five star prices are being charged.

A little further along the beach, Lord Glenconner is capitalising on his proximity to the revamped hotel, and is selling seven contemporary freehold villas in a scheme to be known as Glenconner Beach. With uninterrupted views of the bay and the Pitons, the villas have between five and seven bedrooms, and prices start at just over €5 million. The plots range in size from 13,000 to 26,000 square feet.

The Glenconner villas have also been designed by Lane Pettigrew, and are in a traditional Caribbean style. The designs include pools, extensive terraces and staff quarters, but these designs are flexible, and the architects will work with the owners to ensure that they get their dream property.

Lord Glenconner, whose own residence is beside Glenconner Beach, is also developing a small market area with shops and a restaurant on the site.

www.sugarbeachvillas.com;

www.glenconner.com

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Villa owners March newsletter

Monday, March 1st, 2010

We have had a fantastic start to the New Year on the sales side. There have been another 5 reservations through the course of December and one of the villas went straight to sale!

Welcome to Cardea

As you are aware, Sugar Beach has now parted ways with Prestigious Properties.

I am pleased to tell you that I am still working as Sales Director and Lisa Basire as Marketing Director and we would like to introduce our company, Cardea Property Consultants.

New Sales Manager at Sugar Beach

For those of you that have not yet heard, I will now be based in the UK. However we are very pleased to welcome Colleen Howe as the new Sales Manager on site at Sugar Beach. Colleen is originally from Australia and is absolutely lovely!

Construction

The 500’s and the 800’s villa are now in operation with the first set of guests staying over Christmas and New Year. We also had a visit from the Secret Agent of the House and Home section of the Financial Times. We had a great write up featured a couple of weeks back which you can read by clicking on this link: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/be799adc-009c-11df-ae8d-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1

Say Hello to the new Bayside

Construction finished on the Bayside restaurant for opening in November and it looks fantastic, with white adobe walls, beautiful hard wood flooring and a natural grass roof it is a perfect compliment to the environment. There is also a beach bar built amongst the almond trees that is just the most glorious place to kick back and watch the sunset.

We will start work on the second beach where the jetty is by the old Pier restaurant after the Easter holidays – a fantastic addition to the resort and for the capital appreciation of all the villas and residences on the property.

Rainforest Spa

The spa is progressing nicely, with seven of the tree-house treatment rooms now completed. The scheduled opening is August 2010, and owners and guests alike will be able to choose from a variety of wonderful treatments whilst listening to the sounds of the waterfall that flows along the rainforest floor below.

Haiti aid

Apart for making a large donation on behalf of Jalousie, Roger Myers also offered the St Lucian government the usage of the resort’s aeroplane to take supplies and equipment over to Haiti. We are pleased to be able to help at this time.

Become a fan!

We have now set up a new Facebook page. Sign up and become a fan to see the latest news, pictures, and comments from our other fans! http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Soufriere-St-Lucia/Sugar-Beach-Villas/262881459653?v=wall

If you are more of a Twitter fan, follow us for the latest new and updates on www.twitter.com/SugarBeachVilla 

Warmest Regards, 

Naomi Cambridge

Sales Director

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Financial Times

Saturday, November 28th, 2009

The long view

By Nicola Venning

The Caribbean tree frogs and geckos that provide a noisy night-time choir in St Lucia have not been the only ones with something to shout about of late. The tropical Windward island of dramatically varied and striking beauty has been shedding its wedding-and-sunburn image and is following in the footsteps of other Caribbean islands by pursuing a plan of upmarket mixed-use (to own and let) luxury second homes and hotels.

“We want another 5,000 rooms over the next 10 years and the majority will be near the international airport [Hewanorra in the south] like Sugar Beach,” says Allen Chastanet, St Lucia’s minister for tourism.

Sugar Beach is a five-star renovation of the former Jalouise Plantation Hotel which is in Val des Pitons – a hummingbird-filled subtropical valley that is part of the Unesco World Heritage Site around the dog-toothed volcanic plugs of the Gros and Petit Pitons. The hotel is the subject of a $100m project by owner Roger Myers (the entrepreneur behind the Café Rouge, Dome and Punch Tavern chains) to refurbish the hotel and turn 85 hotel cottages into elegant buy-to-let villas. Fifty per cent of these traditional colonial-style one- and two-bedroom villas have been sold. All will be in a shared rental pool giving owners a maximum of four weeks use per year. The resort will be managed by deluxe hotel group The Tides and there is a five per cent rental guarantee. Villas start from $610,000 and rise to $2.1m.

The freehold homes and the hotel are on land once owned by Lord Glenconner, otherwise known as Colin Tennant, the raffish, charming old Etonian and socialite who bought the private island of Mustique in 1958 and, with his aristocratic friends including Princess Margaret, created the first jet-set resort. Sugar Beach’s developers are clearly hoping his name will entice a similar upmarket buyer.

Even more chic and expensive are two other small developments that have use of the hotel’s amenities and are being built nearby at Glenconner’s once highly fashionable restaurant, Bang Between the Pitons. Ocean Residences comprises five freehold villas that will be on the edge of a new manmade beach – spectacularly placed at the foot of Gros Piton. Prices range from $2.8m to $6m, and owners have the option to be part of a rental pool.

Further along the beach, in a rare, waterfront or slightly elevated position, will be Glenconner Beach Villas: seven homes ranging from $7m-$12m. All the developments are due to be completed by the end of 2011.

Large colonial homes sell upwards of $15m (though property is on average still 45 per cent less expensive in St Lucia than in nearby Barbados). Estate Agency Savills is selling Gabriel House – a large colonial-style three-bedroom home set in 2.2 acres with views of the Pitons for $18m.

“It is possibly the only part of St Lucia that will get upmarket attention,” says Glenconner. “There is nowhere nicer in the Caribbean but the roads are tortuous, so if you need fun you will have to go elsewhere.”

That elsewhere, is the less hilly north of the island between Castries, the capital, and the wide sweeping, white sandy Rodney Bay. Though there are excellent restaurants and hotels in the south, the more developed – if less picturesque – north has a broader range of amenities, including the new deep-water Rodney Bay Marina, which includes slips for 30 super-yachts among its 260 berths.

Just along from the marina on a beachside strip of reclaimed land is another new development called The Landings. Here, spacious beachfront one- to three-bedroom freehold apartments are in a traditional Caribbean style and come with private moorings for 100 smaller yachts up to 50ft. Prices start from $550,000 and rise to $2.4m and a rental guarantee of 6 per cent per annum has recently been introduced for two years. There are swimming pools, restaurants and stunning views of Pigeon Island, a former pirates’ haunt.

Further inland is the Cap Estate, a hilly, cove-dotted peninsula that includes one of the island’s main golf courses: St Lucia Golf Resort and Country Club as well as many luxury homes. At Mount du Cap, 16 plots of land are for sale and owners can design their own villa with pool. The cost, including landscaping, is about $2.5m.

Smaller and less expensive is neighbouring Cap Maison, a Spanish-styled boutique hotel with mixed-use buy-to-let flats designed by local architect Lane Pettigrew. The units can “lock off” – be divided to create 50 hotel rooms – with freehold ownership, nine weeks use and a rental pool. Sea views, a secluded beach and private (often rooftop) swimming pools are standard. Three out of the 22 flats remain, priced $1.2m-$1.3m. “Cap Maison is small, so the break-even point is low,” says Ollie Gobat, the developer. “For those owners in the pool, the return is potentially very strong.”

Like many second home and holiday destinations, St Lucia has not been immune to the economic downturn; a few developments have stalled and restaurant and hotel owners report lower bookings. Private residential property prices (as opposed to prices in resort developments) fell about 30 per cent between November 2008 and April this year.

In the long term, however, St Lucia has reason to be as pleased as rum punch. The World Bank recently listed it among the top 30 countries in which to invest and tourism is improving. “Arrivals are only 7 to 8 per cent down for the year, which is pretty phenomenal,” says Chastanet. “Most countries’ [falls] are in high double digits.”

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Mail on Sunday

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

Four weeks use, high rental yield, why life is sweet on Sugar Beach

By Zoe Dare Hall

Simon Cowell puffing out his chest on the Sandy Lane beach, the Rooneys’ frolicking in the sea … Barbados is, seemingly, never far from the headlines.

But, out of the limelight, the smaller, more mountainous St Lucia has discreetly been stealing a march on its high-profile neighbour.

St Lucia is one of the few places in the world to see an increase in flights, with BA upping its Gatwick departures from three to five a week from November, in response to UK traveller numbers to the island going up by nearly six per cent this year.

The World Bank has also placed St Lucia above anywhere else in the Caribbean, ranked in its Top 30 countries in the world to invest, based on overall growth expectations, its strong tourist industry and low crime rate.

And although prices on many Barbados developments have been slashed by 20 per cent this year, reducing the price gap between the two islands, villas on St Lucia’s new five-star resorts, such as Sugar Beach in the secluded, rugged south of the island, are still 40 per cent cheaper than Barbados equivalents.

‘Barbados has become what Marbella was in the Eighties, with beachfront villas squeezed between apartment blocks, so a lot of people are now discovering St Lucia instead,’ says Roger Myers, who sold his Café Rouge chain in the UK and bought the Sugar Beach resort in St Lucia’s prime location: on the World Heritage Site between the two iconic Pitons mountains.

Dotted around the 175 acres of lushly palmed terraces, the 85 now faded cottages on this historic sugar-producing Jalousie estate, whose guests have included Nelson Mandela, Denzel Washington and Oprah Winfrey, are being replaced by new villas decorated in a colonial-style minimalism, with huge ceiling fans, all-white interiors and exteriors, private pools and spectacular sea views.

The villas cost from $700,000 (£425,000 at today’s rate), but prices were fixed last year at a more favourable $1.72 to the pound for British buyers, which means one-bedroom villas actually cost from £406,000.

To drive year-round business and avoid empty holiday homes, there is a limit of four weeks’ annual usage for property owners, who can then rent out their villa through the hotel, run by the Kor Group’s trendy Tides brand, for remaining weeks and receive 37.5 per cent of the revenue.

Until the resort is complete in 2011, buyers – most of whom, so far, are British – get a guaranteed rental return of five per cent a year. They are also exempt from paying income tax for 15 years. Mark Petersen, a building surveyor for Tesco stores, says:

‘We’ve been holidaying in St Lucia for the past three years but the investment aspect at Sugar Beach was the most important factor as we can get good rental returns without having to manage the property – and we get four weeks’ holiday every year.’ 

Mark, 53, and his wife Karen, 42, a facilities manager for Sainsbury’s, were one of the first buyers, fixing the price of their one-bedroom villa at £343,000. ‘We love the laidback attitude, the setting between the Pitons and the sports facilities,’ says Mark.

‘We looked at other St Lucian developments on paper, but they all seemed too commercial. Sugar Beach is close to nature. You’re in a tropical rainforest where you see possums and hummingbirds and beautiful flowers when you step outside your cottage.

‘We’ll probably hold on to this property for five years, then buy a villa nearer Soufriere to semi-retire to for six months a year. Buying in St Lucia feels like owning a piece of paradise.’

In the flatter, more developed north, Rodney Bay can feel more Costa Blanca than Caribbean around its busy bar strip and long beachfront of big brand hotels that cater to the honeymooning masses.

But there are pockets of exclusivity such as The Landings, a marina development on reclaimed land that offers some of the island’s only freehold beachfront properties, with one bedroom apartments from £365,000.

While some of St Lucia’s high-end projects, including Raffles and Le Paradis, have hit the buffers during the downturn, The Landings recently reported £5million sales in six weeks, with buyers including Carol Vorderman, who owns a three-bedroom marina-front home there, and DJ Trevor Nelson, who visited his two bedroom beachfront apartment four times last year.

‘The Landings is effectively my pension and the best thing I have done investment-wise,’ says Nelson, whose family are from St Lucia. ‘I love it there. It’s like coming home each time I visit.’ Singer Amy Winehouse is also reportedly house-hunting on the island.

With the island’s mountainous topography limiting the number of new developments, St Lucia’s properties have held their value, says The Landings’ sales director Oliver Gobat.

‘Buyers with cash can still push to get good deals but there haven’t been price drops across the board. St Lucia has not gone through huge growth like Barbados, so there is no big pricing bubble to burst,’ he says.

One example is the seafront Cap Maison, on the Cap Estate on the island’s northern tip overlooking Martinique, where the remaining three out of 22 apartments cost from £667,000 for two bedrooms through Caribbean specialist Prestigious Properties.

‘The smart money is looking away from Barbados now,’ says Marco Bonini, director of Prestigious Properties.

‘St Lucia is becoming a lifestyle choice for many and it now has its first five-star resorts in Sugar Beach and The Landings.

‘But it also offers good investment potential, with tax incentives and mortgages available for the first time for overseas buyers, and properties at Sugar Beach increasing in value by 15-20 per cent a year.’

And with property prices still trailing behind the more developed Caribbean islands, it’s not just those with Amy Winehouse’s bank account that can afford to be part of it.

Sugar Beach, www.sugarbeach.com, 020 8812 4773;

The Landings, www.thelandingsstlucia.com, 0845 217 7851;

Prestigious Properties, www.prestigious-properties.co.uk, 020 8812 4734.

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