Club, Spa, Resort, and Healthcare Marketing

Battle Mountain Resort Plans Unveiled

What’s been talked about since January became semi-official Thursday when the developer of a private ski resort and golf course on Battle Mountain made official his intent to become a part of Minturn. It’s the first step in what is expected to evolve into a formal annexation request from the developer of the proposed 1,700-unit, 5,300-acre Battle Mountain golf and ski community that would stretch from Minturn to Red Cliff.
Florida-based Ginn Companies purchased the land in December for $32.5 million from the owners of the defunct New Jersey Zinc Mine. The land runs from the top of Battle Mountain to the Tigiwon Road/Bolts Lake area and includes the area covered by the consolidated tailings pile from the Eagle Mine. The development is valued by the developer at better than $1 billion.

Link: Vail Daily News for Vail and Beaver Creek Colorado – News.

Andros Isle Development Corp. Reaches Joint Venture Agreement on the $350MM Las Arenas Blancas Beach Resort Project Near Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic

Andros Isle Development Corporation announced that the company reached a tentative
joint venture agreement with Inversiones Turia, S.A. that would give Andros a significant equity stake in the planned $350MM Las Arenas Blancas Beach resort project. The terms of the agreement would also make Andros the lead manager for development of the project. The complete details of the joint venture will be released once the final agreement has been signed. The acquisition an equity stake in Las Arenas Blancas further implements Andros Isle Development’s objective of developing world-class, luxury resorts throughout the Caribbean.
The Las Arenas Blancas Resort community will be developed on a 394-acre tract of beachfront property located near Punta Cana in the Province of La Altagracia. The Las Arenas Resort complex will include a luxury five star hotel and spa with a 1,500-square-meter casino, 14 luxury ocean view villas, a golf club with a 27-hole championship golf course, and a full-service marina with 44 slips for up to 80-foot yachts. In addition to the luxury resort, the Las Arenas Blancas development will also include a residential community with a country club and 200 houses with views to the golf course and the beaches.

Link: PRESS RELEASE Andros Isle Development Corp. Reaches Joint Venture Agreement on the $350MM Las Arenas Blancas Beach Resort Project Near Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.

Curiosity Peaks at Realty Estate Sites

According to Hitwise, consumer Internet searches for the terms “real estate bubble” and “housing bubble” reached a 12-month high the week ending May 28, 2005. The market share of these terms across all major search engines like Google, Yahoo! Search, MSN Search and others, skyrocketed 311 percent and 174 percent respectively versus the prior week.

Visits to real estate sites increased into the spring and early summer of 2005, grew an average of three percent each week. The market share of total Internet visits for real estate sites is up 19 percent the week ending June 11, 2005 versus year-ago. As speculation over a U.S. real estate bubble continues in the mainstream media, new Internet search behavior data suggest consumers are equally concerned that the current market is overpriced.

Allendale Township Ski Lake Neighborhood In The Works – MI

A developer has plans for a neighborhood in Ottawa County that’s all about water sports. It calls for 60 high-end homes surrounding man-made lakes designed specifically for skiing and wake boarding.

The proposed site is at the corner of Lake Michigan Drive and 84th Avenue in Allendale Township.

Link: WXMI.com | FOX 17 | Grand Rapids | Allendale Township Ski Lake Neighborhood In The Works.

Leo DiCaprio Buys Belize Island for Eco Resort

The Beach star Leonardo Di Caprio has snapped up his very own piece of paradise, splashing out on a Caribbean island.

British newspaper The Sun reports that the staunch environmentalist is planning to turn the isle, 104-acre Blackadore Caye off the coast of Belize, into an eco-friendly resort. The narrow island, which is just over two miles long, is lined with white sand beaches and dotted with coconut palms and rocky outcrops. It lies just a 25-minute boat ride from the Belize Barrier Reef, a World Heritage Site.

Link: Leo DiCaprio buys a Caribbean island.

Mashantuckets plan Virgin Islands casino resort

The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation will pour revenue generated from the sale of two high-speed ferry boats into a new resort development project in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, the tribe’s Business Advisory Board announced Wednesday.
The tribe sold the ferries to a Hong Kong-based investment company this week.
The tribe has entered into a co-partnership as majority stakeholder with William Punch and Partners in the Virgin Islands to build a luxury Caribbean resort to include a beachfront hotel, marina, casino and possibly a championship golf course.

“The tribal nation is delighted to take the proceeds from the ferries’ sale and invest them in an exciting new opportunity to pursue what we do best: the development of a world-class destination resort,” Tribal Council Chairman Michael J. Thomas said Wednesday in a news release. “St. Croix is a market that has exciting possibilities, and any development, like our other enterprises, should respect the natural beauty of its surroundings.”

Link: Local News – Norwich Bulletin – www.norwichbulletin.com.

Vail Resorts to Sell Riverfront Site Near Beaver Creek Resort to East West Partners; Westin Hotel, Condominiums, Vacation Ownership Residences and New Riverfront Park to Be Built on Site

Vail Resorts (NYSE: MTN – News) announced its real estate subsidiary, Vail Resorts Development Company, will
sell a land parcel adjacent to the Eagle River in Avon, Colorado of under 20 acres pursuant to a contract with East West Partners of Avon, Colorado.East West Partners has several decades experience in mountain resort
development, and has previously completed numerous projects at Vail Resorts’ Beaver Creek ski resort, including projects in and around Beaver Creek Village and at Bachelor Gulch.

Link: Vail Resorts to Sell Riverfront Site Near Beaver Creek Resort to East West Partners; Westin Hotel, Condominiums, Vacation Ownership Residences and New Riverfront Park to Be Built on Site.

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So many SHELTER magazines!

Inspired Home looks sleek. It reads as if somebody with working knowledge of “nouns” and “verbs” had a hand in editing it, as opposed to many of its peers. Its cover boasts some kind of nu-elegant outdoor kitchen/patio dealie where I’d be happy to while away the lazy summer nights – sort of like Huck and Tom, but with nearby indoor plumbing.

So why is it that the August issue of the publication leaves me feeling somewhat less than inspired?

(Clue – There are currently 6,372 different shelter magazines out there! -bc)

Link: MediaPost Publications Home of MediaDailyNews, MEDIA and OMMA Magazines.

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Developers/TVA land swap – TN

Developers are lining up to get their hands on some of the prime lakefront property included among 16,000 acres TVA owns along the Watts Bar Lake.

It’s part of the continuing struggle between developers pressuring TVA to open the land for development and conservationists who say TVA should keep the land open for public use, particularly where it was taken through eminent domain.

The future of the land is under consideration because TVA is updating its Watts Bar Land Management Plan for the first time since 1988, and developers may have learned the key to obtaining TVA land for upscale residential homes, golf courses, marinas or convention centers:

Link: KnoxNews: Business.

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Ritz developer awarded $28M

Fluor Daniel Caribbean, Inc., the contractor terminated by the developer of the Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman, was licking a large financial wound last week after a jury ruled in favour of Humphreys (The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman project developer) and awarded damages in the amount of $28.8 million plus interest after a trial in New York. The size of the award represents almost the entire amount being sought by Humphreys (Cayman) Limited in a counter-claim against the former general contractor Fluor Daniel Caribbean Inc.

The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman project development team terminated Fluor Daniel on 3 March 2004 citing that the general contractor was unable to complete its work in a cost-effective and timely manner. In the ensuing months the development team had taken over as the construction manager for the project.

Link: Cayman Net News: Ritz developer awarded $28M .